Des Moines, Iowa — Republicans on a House subcommittee have approved a bill to require any handouts in Iowa classrooms adhere to President Trump’s executive order renaming two landmarks. In January, Trump renamed Mount Denali as Mount McKinley and the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
That’s Representative Bob Henderson, a Republican from Sioux City who is a retired math teacher. He says the bill does not require the purchase of new textbooks or wall maps with these name changes, but would apply to anything handed out — including tests.
Henderson says it’s unclear when the Gulf of America will be its official name in federal records. The president’s executive order gave the Department of Interior 30 days to make the change in the official federal database of all US geographic names. During a subcommittee hearing on the bill, Heaven Chamberlain of Bondurant called it silly.
Representative Mary Lee Madison of Des Moines, the only Democrat on the subcommittee, voted against the bill and criticized the name changes Trump has ordered.
The bill’s sponsor is the chairman of the Education Committee in the Iowa House. Last week, a proposal that would have required all state agencies in Arkansas to update maps and educational materials failed in a committee in the Arkansas legislature.
