Dear Legislator,
I am writing you to share my concerns about the dismantling of our AEA system in Iowa. I know you are getting many emails, calls, and letters about this and for efficiency I would invite you to read the two blogs I have written on this issue. I retired in 2022 from my position as Special Services Director for Cedar Rapids Schools but spent over 30 years in Iowa as a special education teacher in Des Moines and Burlington, an administrator at both the district and building level at West Central Valley, Newton, and Cedar Rapids, and as the Special Education Director for Prairie Lakes AEA. I feel I have a unique perspective due to my experience in both the AEA and public school settings.
I would like to take the time in this email to address a few key items that I am not sure you are aware of as I heard Representative Pat Grassley speak on Iowa Press last night and he appeared unaware of some of the details in the proposed bill on these items.
First, the area of the proposed bill that covers property currently owned by the AEA. This property will automatically go to the Department of Management and they can choose to sell the property. If they do choose to sell, the proceeds go to the general fund. These properties were purchased with tax funds that were designated to benefit education, and the majority of those funds were targeted to benefit students with disabilities. If these properties are sold, the money generated should go back to the AEAs to serve students, or at least returned to the districts who are served by that AEA to use those funds to benefit students.
“The department of administrative services
is responsible for providing real property and facilities to
the area education agencies, as determined in consultation
with the director of the department of education, pursuant to
a management fee agreement. The area education agencies are
responsible for the general maintenance and the grounds of the
real property and facilities provided by the department of
administrative services.”
“2. a. On or before July 1, 2024, all ownership interests
that area education agencies have in real property and
facilities attached to real property shall be transferred to
the department of administrative services. Prior to July
1, 2024, the area education agencies and the area education
agency boards of directors shall collaborate with the director
of the department of administrative services to arrange for
the orderly conveyance of all ownership interests in real
property from the area education agencies to the department
of administrative services. The department of administrative
services shall be responsible for all costs associated with
the conveyance of real property pursuant to this paragraph and
shall assume all encumbrances attached to such real property.”
“b. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, the department of administrative services shall have
the authority to dispose of all interests in real property
conveyed to the department pursuant to paragraph “a”. Moneys
generated by the sale of such interests in real property shall
be deposited in the general fund of the state.”
“3. Prior to July 1, 2024, all interests that area education
agencies have in real property lease agreements shall be
transferred to the department of administrative services.”
The AEAs currently possess a wealth of materials that teachers use, and many teachers use these materials consistently throughout the school year. The proposed bill says these items could stay at the AEA, but can only be used for special education. Of the remainder of the materials, they will go to the Department of Administrative Services and could go to a low performing district or they can sell the materials and put the funds generated in the general fund. These materials were bought with tax dollars generated by all of the districts in the AEA for the purpose of serving all of the students in the AEA. It is absolutely wrong to take those materials, sell them, and put the money in a place that will not be used for education. It is also wrong to not give access to those materials to the districts who paid for them.
“The department of administrative services may dispose
of media center and professional development equipment and
property transferred to the department pursuant to paragraph
“c”, with preference being given to lower-performing public
schools in this state. Moneys generated from the sale of media
center or professional development equipment or property shall
be deposited in the general fund of the state.”
There is also a belief that the money currently funding educational services and media at the AEAs will be returned to districts. I am not a funding expert by any means, but when I look at the verbiage in the proposed bill, it appears to me that the state can determine that the funds returned to the district must first be used for property tax relief.
“The school district management levy under Code section 298.4
is authorized to be used for specified purposes, including
unemployment benefit costs, insurance costs, costs of certain
judgments, early retirement benefit costs, and mediation
and arbitration costs. The bill provides that a school
district’s management levy may be reduced by the department of
management if the department determines that the reduction in
the school district’s combined district cost as a result of
the elimination of the area education agency media services
categorical funding supplement and the area education agency
educational services categorical funding supplement does not
result in a corresponding reduction in the total amount of
property taxes levied by the school district for the budget
year. The bill allows the department of management to evaluate
the amounts of property taxes levied by the school district and
purposes for which such revenues are budgeted to determine the
adequacy of the reduction in the school district’s total amount
of property taxes.”
“a. For the budget year beginning July 1, 1991, the
department of management shall calculate for each district the
difference between the sum of the revenues generated by the
foundation property tax and the additional property tax in the
district calculated under this chapter and the revenues that
would have been generated by the foundation property tax and
the additional property tax in that district for that budget
year calculated under chapter 442, Code 1989, if chapter 442,
Code 1989, were in effect, except that the revenues that
would have been generated by the additional property tax levy
under chapter 442, Code 1989, shall not include revenues
generated for the school improvement program. However in
making the calculation of the difference in revenues under
this subsection, the department shall not include the revenues
generated under section 257.37, Code 1989, and under chapter
442, Code 1989, for funding media and educational services
through the area education agencies. If the property tax
revenues for a district calculated under this chapter exceed
the property tax revenues for that district calculated under
chapter 442, Code 1989, the department of management shall
reduce the revenues raised by the additional property tax levy
in that district under this chapter by that difference and
the department of education shall pay property tax adjustment
aid to the district equal to that difference from moneys
appropriated for property tax adjustment aid.”
Another major area of concern for me is the plan to terminate all administrators at the AEA on July 1st (or sooner, if the DE chooses) to be replaced with a state appointed Executive Director (who has to have a special education background) and the rest of the administrative duties being done by the new staff hired by the DE. It is hard to tell if the new Executive Director can hire administrators. Keep in mind that administrators include HR Directors and Business Directors. How are people going to be hired and bills paid and a budget created when there are no administrators to do the work? Who will be meeting with districts to create a plan for next year around special education? Who will be hiring and evaluating staff?
“5. On July 1, 2024, the employment of all area education
agency administrators employed pursuant to section 273.3,
subsection 11, as amended in this division of this Act, is
terminated, unless terminated earlier by the director of
the department of education who, notwithstanding any other
provision of law to the contrary, is authorized to terminate
the employment of such area education agency administrators.
The changes to chapter 273 constitute just cause for discharge
of the area education administrators under section 279.25,
and the provisions of section 279.24 shall not apply to the
discharge of the area education administrators. The director
of the department of education shall appoint an executive
director for each area education agency pursuant to section
273.4, as amended in this division of this Act. The director,
or the director’s designee, may exercise the authority of an
executive director until such appointment is made.”
As you can see from my blog posts, I am not against studying the AEA system to determine its effectiveness and definitely think we need to take a good, hard look at how we deliver special education services in our state. Unfortunately, this proposed bill allows for no evaluation of our current system and does not use the reliably available research that shows what works to reduce the gap. This is a step back to the dark ages where we focused only on special education funded staff and completely missed the boat that the key to improving student achievement for students on IEPs is to make sure that the Tier 1 Core Curriculum is accessible and beneficial to them and that Tier 2 and 3 are in place and successful BEFORE we put all our time, energy, and resources into special education only. Most students with IEPs spend a small portion of their day with a special education teacher in a special education room and the majority of their learning takes place in general education.
Again, I strongly reccommend that you take the next year to do a comprehensive evaluation of the current AEA system, create a plan using available research, gain input form stakeholders on the proposed plan, and then create a reasonable implementation plan that can be delivered successfully.
I am more than willing to chat further with you about this very important topic.
Thank you for your time and attention. I appreciate the work that you do for our state.
Wendy Parker
(641)417-8586
wendyparker9533@gmail.com