Legislative leaders are meeting at the statehouse as Gov. Kim Reynolds’s proposed reforms to Iowa Area Education Agencies (AEAs) are being prepared. The bills, which will move through the House as House Study Bill 542 (HSB 542) and the Senate as Senate Study Bill 3073 (SSB 3073), were developed based on feedback from parents, legislators, school superintendents, and teachers. Reynolds met with House Speaker Pat Grassley, Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, and House and Senate education committee chairs and members to discuss the two pieces of legislation. The initial bills propose automatically shifting control of state and federal special education funding back to the individual school districts and away from the AEA. Under Reynolds’s plan, AEAs will continue to provide the special education services they currently do, but oversight of their operations will move to the Iowa Department of Education. AEAs can continue to provide general education services if requested by districts and approved by the Department of Education. Reynolds says, “Schools and parents know their students best, and this bill ensures they are in the driver’s seat in deciding how best to support their students. This model will give schools control over their money and create more transparency in the system, while also ensuring AEAs can provide the education support some schools rely on. I appreciate the House and Senate education committees’ willingness to work together on the bill, and I look forward to subcommittee hearings as soon as possible.” The move to reform the AEAs arose after a review found special education students in Iowa perform well below expectations despite per-student spending being $5,300 higher than the national average. Opponents of the bill argue the AEAs provide vital services, especially to rural districts, and the governor’s plan will remove resources from the schools and students who need it most.
Proposed Iowa AEA Reform Legislation Begins To Take Shape
