Lawmakers in Iowa have passed a bill under House File 2591 that will slow high school student-athletes from transferring schools and districts. This week, the bill passed the Senate, and it now heads to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
According KCI 8, laws in Iowa currently place a 90-day moratorium on interscholastic athletic competition for transfer students. The new bill would increase that timeline to 140 days for students enrolling in another district.
There are an estimated 10 states that currently allow student-athletes to maintain eligibility after transferring schools.
The new in Iowa law will take effect on Aug. 1, 2026.
Also included in the bill headed to the governor’s desk is a provision to allow eighth-grade student-athletes to compete in certain high school sports.
According to Sports Illustrated, two high school sports in Iowa currently allow eighth-grade student-athletes to compete on the high school team, baseball and softball, because those sports are played in the summer when students are technically “rising ninth graders.”
However, the new bill makes a set of rules to allow eighth-graders to compete in winter and spring sports as well.
Supporters of the bill note the benefits to certain, lower participation teams, including tennis, golf, bowling and cross country. But, several opponents have raised concerns about what it could mean to send an eighth grader up against juniors and seniors on the football field or the wrestling mat.
“If any public school in Iowa is having trouble filling a roster, they can enter into a sharing agreement with the neighboring school,” said senator Mike Zimmer, a retired teacher and coach. “We’ve been doing it for years. Bringing up eighth graders, 13-year-olds, to compete with 18- and 19-year-olds, I’m trying to figure out why would we be doing this.”
