DES MOINES The Iowa House rejected online education as proposed by Gov. Terry Branstad in the final vote of a marathon debate on education reform Tuesday night.

Instead, House members adopted a plan that limits the number of school children that can enroll in fully-online courses to 900 students statewide and restricts outward open enrollment from any single district to 1 percent of its total enrollment. It also requires the Iowa Department of Education to develop a statewide online education program.

This does show some good-faith compromise, said Rep. Jeremy Taylor, R-Sioux City, an English teacher who has been skeptical of the 100 percent online leaning proposal since debate on the education reform package began in earnest earlier this year.

House members rejected an amendment from Democrats that required a student receive a maximum of 50 percent of their coursework online.

But lawmakers delayed a vote on the overall reform package until this morning when they are supposed to run a technical amendment to the bill.

Lawmakers took up the bill just after 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon and didnt finish debate on the measure until 11:49 p.m. House rules dont allow for votes to take place between midnight and 8 a.m. The package, if approved today, would go to the Senate which has its own reform bill but could choose to pick up the House version.

In addition to online learning, House members rejected Branstads proposal that required prospective teachers to have a 3.0 GPA for admission to a teacher preparation program and required teachers to maintain that GPA for graduation by a 77-20 majority.

Rep. Guy Vander Linden, R- Oskaloosa, said the requirement was an unnecessary intrusion by the Legislature into the decisions that are best left up to the people who run the programs.

Cecil Dolecheck, R-Mount Ayr, said raising the requirements to get into teaching programs could help raise the public perception of teachers and help teachers garner public support for wage increases.

The House plan did keep a controversial third-grade retention option as part of an overall early childhood reading program and it kept a series of tests as proposed by the governor, despite the attempts by Democrats to make changes from on both plans.

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House OKs some education reform, limits scope of online classes