Iowa bill would require new classroom materials refer to ‘Gulf of America’ and ‘Mount McKinley’

DES MOINES — Iowa schools would be required to replace references to the Gulf of Mexico and the Alaskan peak Denali with references to the “Gulf of America” and “Mount McKinley,” respectively, in all classroom instruction and in all handouts provided to students, under a bill advanced by Iowa lawmakers. House Education Committee Chair Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, who introduced the bill , said it is meant to align with the executive order signed by President Donald Trump after he took office directing the Secretary of the Interior to change all federal references within 30 days.

Wheeler said the change is meant to apply to new, not already printed classroom materials like handouts; not textbooks or classroom maps. "I’m looking at his executive orders as they come down to see if there’s something the state should be interested in aligning with,“ Wheeler told The Gazette. ”And we should be consistent.



We should be unified as a people. So if we’re going to have the president say this is how the United States is going to recognize this gulf and this is how the United States is going to recognize this mountain, I think our students should be taught that as well." The U.

S. Department of the Interior announced Jan. 24 that it had officially changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, “and North America's highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley.

” Located in Denali National Park and Preserve in south-central Alaska, Denali is a Koyukon Athabascan word that means "the high one" or "the great one.“ It was later named Mount McKinley by the U.S.

government in 1917 in honor of former U.S. President William McKinley, a Republican who was president from 1897 to 1901.

Former President Barack Obama changed the official name to Denali in 2015 to reflect the traditions of Alaska Natives as well as the preference of many Alaska residents. In his inaugural address, Trump said McKinley "made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent — he was a natural businessman." McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901, also expanded American territory, seizing the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico as territories in the Spanish-American War.

He also annexed Hawaii, which later became a U.S. state.

Alaska's two senators oppose the change, saying the peak must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by the Athabascan people and serve as a needed reminder of the state's deep Indigenous history. The Interior Department said in a news release that the name changes "reaffirm the Nation's commitment to preserving the extraordinary heritage of the United States and ensuring that future generations of Americans celebrate the legacy of its heroes and historic assets." The U.

S. Board on Geographic Names is “working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use,” the department added. Google last week said its maps will use Mount McKinley and Gulf of America when federal maps make the switch.

In a statement on X, Google said any GNIS-driven name changes would be made to Google Maps as a matter of long-standing policy. "We have a long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources," it said. When official changes have been made, "we will update Google Maps in the U.

S. quickly to show Mount McKinley and Gulf of America,“ the company said. However, if the new names aren't recognized outside the United States, the accepted names in each country will be reflected on Google Maps, the company said.

“When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name. Everyone in the rest of the world sees both names. That applies here too,” Google said.

While Trump can direct the U.S. Geological Survey to change how it denotes the Gulf of Mexico, such a name change would be unlikely to be recognized internationally.

Mexico has said the Gulf of Mexico name is internationally recognized and has been used as a maritime navigational reference going back hundreds of years. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum last month jokingly suggested North America, including the United States, be renamed "Mexican America" — a historic name used on an early map of the region. Mexico and the U.

S. share a nearly equal number of coastline miles along the gulf. Rep.

Bob Henderson, R-Sioux City, however, said “Gulf of America” would be more appropriate, “only because about half of that gulf is bordered by the United States.” “So Gulf of America seems to be a more appropriate name for that,” Henderson said. Lobbyists representing the Iowa Association of School Boards, Rural School Advocates and School Administrators of Iowa were registered undecided on the bill.

They said there were uncertain about the impact of Trump’s executive order on local schools and raised concerns about the potential cost for printing new classroom materials to be given to students. “As teachers are dealing with this in the classroom, there’s going to be some good conversation about what those landmarks are and what they mean and what the old name was and what the new one is,” said Dave Daughton, representing Rural School Advocates of Iowa and School Administrators of Iowa. Heaven Chamberlain, of Bondurant, spoke against the bill during the subcommittee hearing.

Chamberlain said lawmakers should focus instead of directing funds toward more essential needs like updating textbooks and increasing teacher salaries rather than handouts to promote a presidential order she characterized as racist. Henderson and fellow Republican Rep. Steve Bradley, R-Cascade, signed off on moving House Study Bill 97 to the full House Education Committee to continue discussion on the topic.

Rep. Mary Madison, of West Des Moines, the lone Democrat on the three-member legislative panel, declined to advance the bill, calling it an unnecessary additional cost and a political move that disregards the cultural heritage and significance of the landmarks. Mr.

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