Regents Approve Price Lab Closure, Send Controversy on to Governor and Legislature

The Iowa Board of Regents voted to close the today, despite protest from some, including a Regent, who questioned whether state law actually allows them to do so.

During the board meeting, held telephonically, the Regents voted 8-0, with one abstention, to approve the closure of the lab where students train as teachers and some 366 children in grades K-12 go to school every day. Some in the community, students and faculty have marched and otherwise spoken out against the closure.

The closure is effective June 30, although UNI officials must provide a progress report on transition plans to the Regents in April.

Regent Bob Downer, of Iowa City, asked to defer the vote on the closure of the school, pending an opinion by the Iowa Attorney General. The question is whether the school, which is specifically named in the Iowa Code, is protected by law and therefore an issue for the Legislature to rule on.

Downer's motion died for a lack of a support, and he ultimately abstained from the vote.

Regent President Craig Lang addressed the question, in part, by saying essentially it is now in the hands of the Iowa Legislature.

"It is our belief we have this authority," Lang said. "Also by the motion presented by Regent (Bruce) Rastetter that this would be a notification by the board president to the Iowa Legislature and the governor of the board’s action, in which I believe if they felt differently they could take action upon."

Meanwhile, UNI President Ben Allen, who made the recommendation to close the school following reviews of how to deal with massive state budget cuts, said UNI may have a stronger and more accessible teacher training program in the future without the lab.

Allen's plan involves forming partnerships with school districts around the state where students can train, and UNI can pursue research in diverse settings from rural to urban to suburban.

"There are a lot of areas in Western Iowa that are not well served by us now by having Price Lab here," Allen told the Regents. "There is a great opportunity to get more engagement and provide these services to more people across the state ... I am excited about the possibility of providing a (research and development) concept in a different manner."

Price Lab is one of the few remaining teaching labs connected with universities nationally, Allen said, and the possibility of closure has come up before.

Most recently, state budget cuts have drained resources away from the school prompting the need to find areas to cut. The state has cut 24 percent from public higher education funding in the past four years, Regent David Miles said.

Miles proceeded to call out the Iowa Legislature for budget cuts.

"I'd like to address those who continue their relentless efforts to strip Iowa's public universities of essential state resources. I am proud of President Allen's leadership and courage today," Miles said. "This should be a wake up call to the damage that ongoing cuts to our universities have already caused and the threat that further cuts pose to Iowa's future."