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State Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink on Saturday defended his proposal to make the Anchor Character Training Center operated by Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Dodge exempt from school accreditation requirements.
The Republican from Fort Dodge said the school will close without the exemption.
"They deserve to stay open and serve these children," he said. "I will not change my mind on this."
The Anchor Character Training Center opened in October 1996 and is now located at the former Webster County Home on 225th Street.
According to information on the Harvest Baptist Church website, the center has served 600 troubled young people from 47 states and five foreign countries since it opened.
A statement on the website says, "Through intense discipleship, Bible memorization and Biblical counseling, their lives can be transformed by the power of the spirit of God."
Kraayenbrink has introduced a bill that would make the center exempt from the usual school accreditation requirements. In response to a question from the audience, he defended that measure during Saturday's Eggs and Issues forum at Iowa Central Community College.
He described the center's students as "rescue children." He said they are not assigned to the center by the judicial system, but are "put there with the blessing of their parents."
"What would we do with these children if they weren't in this facility?" he asked.
According to the senator, there are 20 students there now.
"The kids are safe," he said. "They are fed well. Everything is fine."
Kraayenbrink said that under his bill the center has to be "totally open" to inspection by the Iowa Department of Human Services.
However, he said the center would not have to be accredited by the state Department of Education. He said the school doesn't meet accreditation requirements because it doesn't have licensed teachers.
"There's only one path left and that's to make an exception for this school," he said.
State Rep. Helen Miller, D-Fort Dodge, declined to say if she will support Kraayenbrink's bill.
"No, I will not give you my word today that I will support it because I haven't seen it," she said.
The other lawmakers at Saturday's forum -- state Sen. Jerry Behn, R-Boone; state Rep. Rob Bacon, R-Slater; and state Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City -- didn't comment on the issue.
No one from the Anchor Character Training Center or Harvest Baptist Church addressed the lawmakers during the forum.