A bill was recently signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds will make a change in part of the public high school curriculum in order to graduate.

Senate File 369 would require high school students to pass the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Naturalization Civics Test before they can graduate or receive an equivalency diploma. District 24 Senator Jesse Green talks about the bill being one of his priorities during the 2025 Legislative session.

“They can take it as many times as they want, but they at least need to get a 60 percent or better. To me it’s really sad when I see reports that about one-third of our population can name three branches of (the federal) government, but two-thirds can’t. There’s just some basic things that we need to know about in our society in order to function and to me basic understanding of government is one of them. It was an honor to run that.”     

Greene County High School US Government Teacher Heath Telleen tells Raccoon Valley Radio that students have been taking a version of this same test for several years, and they must get at least 90 percent correct to pass the government class. Governor Reynolds says in a statement following the signing that by “Requiring high school graduates to pass the U.S. Citizenship Test ensures Iowa students are fully prepared to be responsible and engaged citizens.”