A judge has dismissed the Iowa State Education Association’s lawsuit, which challenged Iowa’s new collective-bargaining laws, saying the changes violate the state constitution. ISEA, which represents about 34,000 Iowa educators, filed a lawsuit this spring arguing that teachers and other public employees deserve the same bargaining rights as first responders, such as police and firefighters. The new law weakens the ability of public-sector union workers to bargain for pay and benefits. “People should be upset about this because our teachers, our education employees deserve a voice in their working environment,” said Mary Jane Cobb, executive director at ISEA. The state argued that first responders can’t go on strike, so that puts them at a disadvantage. “I think that’s a pretty weak argument because the only public sector strike we’ve ever had in Iowa was actually teachers,” Cobb said. The ruling states the collective bargaining changes do not “violate the Equal Protection Clause. Rather, this division seems a reasonable method for providing the benefit of withholding to employees in their status as employees, while limiting the number of instances of withholding and the financial and administrative burdens attendant thereon.” Cobb said the law took away educators’ voice and “people aren’t looking to go into the education profession now. We’re going to have difficulty getting good teachers into our classrooms.” “We’re going to lose our best and brightest in our state or to other states, and that’s not OK,” she said. Cobb said the state education association is willing to take the case to the Iowa Supreme Court if need be.