Iowa House lawmakers are taking more feedback on their latest proposal to change how schools work with the state’s nine Area Education Agencies.
In a public hearing Wednesday night, some superintendents said they would like to manage where that money goes, even if they like the services they are receiving. But parents of students with disabilities continue to tell lawmakers they are fearful of unintended consequences that could harm services for vulnerable children.
Currently, school districts are expected to go to the AEAs for services that are covered by state funding.
The House bill (HF 2612) would let districts control some of that funding and shop around for media and education services outside of the AEA system. However, it would still be mandatory for school districts to use the AEAs for special education services.
Doug Wheeler, the superintendent of the College Community School District outside of Cedar Rapids, called his AEA — the Grant Wood Area Education Agency — the “gold standard” in the state, but if there was money that didn’t have to go to the AEA, he would use it locally.
“While I have a highly favorable view of our AEA, we do not currently access all of the available services based on our needs,” Wheeler said. “So while it is very difficult, I do have a responsibility to our students and our families to engage fully in any conversation that might provide more resources to our students.”
Spirit Lake Superintendent David Smith asked House members to give local districts control over media and education services funding immediately in the next fiscal year instead of phasing it in over three years as the bill does now. He also wants to go back to Gov. Kim Reynolds’ original proposal, which would have given districts a choice to spend special education funding outside of the AEAs.
Smith said his district would handle all of the services provided by the regional AEA in-house if it controlled the money.
“The system has been in place for a long time and where we live it doesn’t work, it hasn’t worked and we don’t think it’s going to work in the future,” Smith said. “You’ve taken it this far. It seems like something is probably going to happen one way or the other. And I’m begging you, if you do that, put the funds toward the school district and let the AEAs earn our business.”
Jacob Bolson is a member of the Hubbard-Radcliffe school board. He fears small districts could be left unprepared to provide essential services if each district is left to make its own agreement with their AEA.
“When a family of four non-English speaking children spontaneously arrives at our elementary school in Radcliffe, who do we call for help?” he asked. “Today we can immediately tap into AEA resources because they are available by the consortium operational model. That will be gone with this plan because the agility is removed with the pay-for-service model.”
Parents of students with disabilities told lawmakers they are scared the current plans working through the legislature could interrupt services they depend on.
David Tilly, a former deputy director of the Iowa Department of Education, said the AEAs have been essential to him as the parent of a child with a disability. He said lawmakers should take time to closely study the system before moving forward.
“It feels like these AEA bills are playing fee-for-service politics with our children’s futures,” Tilly said. “Changes are being proposed to the AEA structures without appropriate study nor sufficient stakeholder input, and it terrifies us whose children’s futures depend on the AEAs.”
AEA services extend to teacher training, assistance providing school cybersecurity and response to traumatic events.
Stacey Warren asked lawmakers to ensure crisis services are available to schools around the state. She is a social worker on the Heartland AEA team that responded to the mass shooting at Perry High School. Warren said other providers may not understand what is unique about responding to a tragedy at a school.
“You might think that other mental health providers, community or clergy can just take over these services,” Warren said. “But what I’ll tell you is who’s going to go to the school and say, ‘Did you remember to turn off attendance so that the student who died doesn’t get their parent emails to say that they’re not going to be here today?’ We do those things.”
The Senate has its own version of AEA reform (SF 2386) that would split control over state funding. For special education, 90% of the money would be managed by the school district while 10% would go directly to the AEAs. Funding for media and education services would be split 60/40 with the school districts controlling the larger share.
Both chambers passed their AEA bills through the committee level last week, but neither has brought their bill up for a vote.
