SF 515 Iowa Senate · 2025-2026 Regular Session

A bill for an act relating to consideration of the educational setting of a minor child in a child custody proceeding.

SF 515 requires Iowa courts to prioritize a child's current educational setting during custody disputes. It creates a legal presumption that children should remain in their existing school (public, private, or homeschool) unless a parent provides strong evidence showing it harms the child's best interests. The bill applies specifically to cases where parents disagree about schooling, including those with joint legal custody. Court orders must now explicitly outline each parent's rights regarding school access, records, and decisions about the child's education.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
May 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Mar 5, 2025 Last action May 15, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Reprinted · 1 edit
MINOR
This bill was reprinted in a more formal, professional format suitable for official legislative records. The substantive legal content remains identical to the original version, with no changes to the actual policy provisions regarding educational settings in child custody cases.
TECHNICAL

The document was reformatted from a line-by-line legislative markup format to a clean, professional reprint format with proper spacing, headers, and page numbering. The actual legislative text and legal provisions remain unchanged.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 9, 2025

How they voted

480
Passed · 3 other
Total votes 51
Apr 9, 2025
D Democratic16
15 Yea 1
93% Yea
R Republican35
33 Yea 2
94% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
12
Key actions
2
Committee
2
Amendments
4
May 15, 2025
Committee
Rereferred to Judiciary.
lower
Apr 9, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed Senate, yeas 47, nays 0.
upper
Apr 9, 2025
Introduced
Amendment S-3085 ruled out of order.
upper
Apr 9, 2025
Introduced
Amendment S-3087 filed, adopted.
upper
Apr 9, 2025
Introduced
Amendment S-3092 filed, withdrawn.
upper
Apr 8, 2025
Introduced
Amendment S-3085 filed.
upper
Mar 5, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee report, approving bill.
upper
Mar 5, 2025
Introduced
Introduced, placed on calendar.
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.