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SF 583

A bill for an act relating to school safety by requiring the creation of school safety assessment teams and authorizing information sharing between certain governmental agencies.

2025-2026 Regular Session

Authorizes multidisciplinary school safety assessment teams in K–12 and enables record-sharing among schools and covered entities to coordinate safety and access to services

Signed by Governor.
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Bill Summary · SF 583

Summary — SF 583 (Signed May 6, 2025)

Title: School safety — multidisciplinary school safety assessment teams and record/information sharing

Status: Enacted (signed by Governor Kim Reynolds on May 6, 2025)
Introduced: March 10, 2025

Purpose / Intent

SF 583 is intended to strengthen school safety and student support by (1) authorizing and encouraging creation of multidisciplinary school safety assessment teams in K–12 settings and (2) permitting those teams and related “covered entities” to share records and information that are reasonably necessary to ensure access to services or to protect the safety of students or others.

Key provisions

  • Definitions (new section 29D.1):

    • “Covered entity” includes criminal or juvenile justice agencies (per Iowa Code §692.1), cities, counties, townships, state agencies, and service/support providers that contract with those entities. The judicial branch is explicitly excluded from the definition of covered entity.
    • “School” includes school districts (Ch. 274), accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools (Ch. 256E), and innovation zone schools (Ch. 256F), plus service/support providers that contract with such schools.

  • Authorized information sharing (29D.1):

    • Notwithstanding other law (including Iowa Code §22.7 open records provisions), covered entities and schools providing services to K–12 students who are experiencing or at risk of an emotional disturbance/mental illness or who pose an articulable and significant safety concern must share records/information reasonably necessary to ensure appropriate services or safety, upon request when acting as part of a multidisciplinary school safety assessment team.

  • New multidisciplinary team statute (new §280.36):

    • School boards and authorities of accredited nonpublic schools may establish multidisciplinary school safety assessment teams to coordinate resources, assess, and intervene when student behavior may threaten safety.
    • Suggested membership: local law enforcement; juvenile court services representative; mental health professional; social services representative; school official.
    • Teams may be established jointly across districts/schools (agreements with other districts, nonpublic, charter, or innovation zone schools).
    • Teams may request/receive records per §29D.1 and may request records from the state court administrator (so long as records are not sealed by court order).
    • A juvenile court services representative on a team may share juvenile records among team members notwithstanding certain juvenile code confidentiality sections, if records are not sealed.
    • Good-faith immunity: persons acting in good faith, with reasonable cause and without malice, to report/investigate activity indicating a credible danger of serious bodily injury or death receive civil and criminal immunity for those actions.

  • Applicability to charter/innovation zone schools:

    • Charter schools and innovation zone schools are explicitly made subject to the new record-sharing (§29D.1) and team-establishment (§280.36) requirements in the same manner as school districts (amendments to §§256E.7 and 256F.4).

  • Technical/amendment notes:

    • Amendment S-3026 replaced multiple uses of the word “threat” with “school safety” and specified the state court administrator as the recipient for certain record requests.

Who is affected

  • Primary: public school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, charter and innovation zone schools, their employees, students (K–12), and families.
  • Partners: local law enforcement, juvenile court services, mental health and social service providers, state agencies, cities/counties/townships, and contracted service providers.
  • Judicial branch: not a “covered entity,” but the state court administrator may disclose non-sealed records to teams upon request.

Procedural / timeline aspects

  • Passed both chambers (Senate 48–0; House 91–0) with adopted amendment S-3026.
  • Reported enrolled and signed by Governor on May 6, 2025. (No separate effective date listed in provided text; typically effective per Code unless otherwise specified.)

Potential impact / considerations

  • Enables earlier, coordinated multidisciplinary responses for students exhibiting behavioral or mental health concerns and those posing safety risks by easing data-sharing barriers.
  • Broadens exceptions to certain confidentiality/open-records laws for specified safety and service purposes; raises the importance of implementation safeguards to protect student privacy and limit disclosure to records “reasonably necessary” for services or safety.
  • Grants immunities to encourage reporting and participation in team activities, while preserving court sealing protections for juvenile records.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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