(Des Moines) Iowa House District #23 Representative Ray Sorensen of Greenfield says the goal of the Iowa House AEA bill is for no disruption to special education services.
Sorensen says this bill does not terminate any employees of the AEAs and does not prohibit the AEA’s ability to perform any of the services they do now. Sorensen says what the proposed bill does is:
*Ties the salary of each AEA’s chief executive to the average salary of the superintendents of the districts they cover. Currently, the nine chiefs each make around $300,000 annually.
*Puts the Department of Education in charge of professional development and gives the DOE actual oversight over the AEA’s budgets.
*Creates a legislative task force to review the AEA system and make recommendations. The money devoted to special education will stop at the school district, but school districts will be required to contract with the AEAs to provide those special education services. This bill gives school districts more control of media services and education services money over time.
Many districts may continue to use the AEAs for all services. However, if they can provide those same services for less money or more effectively through other means, they will have that flexibility.
Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, the media services money would stop at the school district. Beginning in school district 2026-2027, both the media and education services money would stop at the school district. The school district would then have discretion over how best to spend those funds and provide the services they need to their students.
Sorensen says this is just a quick summary of this bill and will continue to dig into the details as it works its way through the legislative process.
Monday Morning News
