Bill requiring Iowa high school students to pass a citizenship test heads to House floor
By Ophelie Jacobson
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DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — Iowa high school students could soon be required to pass a civics test to graduate and receive their diploma.
House Study Bill 30 would require students to pass a U.S. citizenship and immigration services naturalization civics test to receive their high school diploma. The test would consist of multiple-choice questions chosen at random from the 100-question pool.
A student would need to answer at least 60% correctly to pass. A student who fails could retake the test as many times as necessary.
Lawmakers voted 14-8 to advance the bill out of its House Education Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon. The bill now heads to the House floor.
Right now in Iowa, high school students are required to take a half-year civics course to graduate. Some legislators expressed concern over the implementation of this bill. Others said a student’s graduation shouldn’t be contingent on one test.
“If we want to do something about educating our young people to be more educated on how our government functions and what our responsibilities within government is, we need to return to American government being a full-year course as opposed to a semester,” Rep. Tom Moore, R-Griswold, said.
Lawmakers have tried to push similar pieces of legislation across the finish line but failed in years past.
If the bill becomes law, it would apply to all public and nonpublic schools in the state starting July 1, 2026.
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