This second week was shortened with the Martin Luther King Day holiday. The legislators had a deadline this past Friday for an individual to submit to the Legislative Service Agency a bill. A committee can continue to submit bills.
Based on the number of communications in my inbox, the Governor’s Condition of the State address reforming Area Education Agencies (AEA) has garnered considerable input. I appreciate all the feedback and have sought out very knowledgeable leaders and professionals to discuss HF 542. Rural areas have much different special education circumstances than the metropolitan areas, so it was imperative to get the input from the superintendents and principals in the District 56. With the help of the Eagle Grove High School principal, Heidi Vasquez, we were able to meet with an on-line call. District 56 uses both the Prairie Lakes and Central Rivers AEAs.
Multiple sources agree there is room for improvement, but in the course of that improvement the critical needs of students must be met. As one constituent penned, “let’s pump the brakes” so we get this right and our students’ needs are foremost in the equation.
The educators I have listened to feel the metric in measuring the national assessments on special education performance in Iowa need to be improved. Recent changes within AEA in coordinating with schools have shown recent improvements.
This week, the Governor announced that she will be introducing an amendment to the bill after hearing from Iowans and legislators.
It’s worth noting that Iowa is the only state that requires school districts to send money straight to the AEAs whether they are utilizing their services or not. Some school leaders in this area are more than willing to have the state money to go straight to the AEAs due to the fact it would cost many of the schools more for the same services or they would be unable to get the services in the rural area if they were contracted elsewhere. With that said the AEA’s overseeing their own services, creates an accountability requirement. We will continue to work on this bill to determine how best to improve these services and be accountable for our tax dollars.
Efforts in progress…
The bill HF2050 making it a felony instead of misdemeanor to make a false report of minor abuse has been read into the chamber, has been assigned a committee. If it passes through a and awaits being placed on the House Calendar for debate.
The grooming bill is still being written and processed by the Legislative Services Agency (LSA). They are instrumental in getting legislators’ proposed bills into more formal legal form. It is no easy task to crosscheck codes, definitions and terminology. Hopefully, this following week we will see that officially read in and assigned a committee to put it forward
There are so many other efforts being put forward by so many in the House and Senate. Some dealing with the preborn, elections, budgets, and so much more. .
