The Iowa Senate sent an amended Area Education Agencies bill back to the House for review Monday, changing the legislation to again allow schools to seek private contracts for special education services.

Senate Republicans amended House File 2612 and passed it 28-22. The measure directs 90% of special education services funding for students with special needs within a district to the districts directly, who can use them to work with AEAs or with other providers. The remaining 10% would go to AEAs directly in the 2025-2026 school year. Funding for general education and media services would be split with 60% going to school districts and 40% to AEAs in the first year of implementation, and fully go to school districts in year two.

The legislation also directs the Iowa Department of Education’s Division of Special Education to take over oversight responsibilities currently performed internally by the AEAs. It also incorporates a lower teacher pay component than the House and governor’s proposal of a $50,000 minimum starting salary for teachers, proposing a $46,251 minimum.

Senate Minority Leader Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, said her “heart hurts” for families of children with disabilities over the discussion of the AEA proposal.

Changes to the AEAs were highlighted as a top priority by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds at the beginning of the 2024 legislative session, who pointed to a Guidehouse consulting firm report that found Iowa spends more on special education per-pupil than the national average, while some of the state’s special education test scores fall below the national average. Critics of Reynolds’ bill have disputed the consultant’s findings on student achievement.

In a House public hearing and at subcommittees on the bill, many teachers, AEA staff, and families using AEA services told lawmakers that the changes would hurt services and outcomes for students with disabilities. Democrats have said lawmakers have received thousands of emails from constituents detailing their support for and personal experiences with AEAs, asking them to not move forward with legislation allowing for private contracts.

Opponents to the bill also cited results from a recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, published in early March, that found more Iowans have a favorable view of AEAs at 56% than any elected official tested in the poll.

“In reading this bill, it is abundantly clear that you haven’t listened,” Jochum said. “You haven’t listened. I have never received so many emails in opposition to some legislation pending as I have this.”

But Republican supporters of the bill argued that the changes reflect what some constituents want. Sen. Jesse Green, R-Boone, read a message from a teacher criticizing AEA workers and services available in their school, who asked lawmakers not to table the bill until next year “solely because of an aggressive timeline,” writing that “changes are needed now.”

The bill’s floor manager, Sen. Lynn Evans, R-Aurelia, also said changes to AEAs have been needed for more than a decade, citing a 2011 study that recommended a “redesign” of the current AEA system to eliminate achievement gaps for students with disabilities.

Senate Democrats offered an amendment calling for the bill to be stripped back to a task force to study AEAs and make recommendations to lawmakers next year on what changes should be made. Sen. Molly Donahue, D-Cedar Rapids, argued that the 2011 study was out of date, and that a new task force was needed to address any current issues that exist with Iowa’s special education services.

“The Senate Republican proposal will not produce better services support or outcomes for our students,” Donahue said. “Instead, the proposal creates more uncertainty for the AEA system and an unstable system for our students to learn in.”

The Democrats’ amendment was voted down, with Evans arguing that Republicans had already taken in considerable feedback on the proposal.

“We have already done extensive study on the AEA system, and recommendations have been put forward, and many of those recommendations are in the amendment that we’re putting in front of people today,” Evans said.

Democrats argued that GOP senators were putting the governor’s political interests over those of their constituents. Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, told Republicans to not “follow the governor off a cliff.”

“We have seen our governor do this time and time again, with things that are actually working,” Petersen said. “She has this false premise saying, ‘It’s broken, it’s failing.’ Baloney. We all know that’s baloney. It’s like the governor would say, ‘Let’s just pull out fire hydrants out of communities. We can save people money.’ Would that be smart? No. But that’s what she’s doing once again.”

Reynolds thanked the Senate in a news release Monday for passing the legislation, showing a “commitment to improving special education and acknowledging that the AEA system needs reform.”

“I now look forward to working with the House and Senate to reach a compromise that will bring transparency, accountability, and consistency to the AEA system while most importantly improving outcomes for students with disabilities,” Reynolds said. “At the same time we must recognize the important role of teachers in the classroom by increasing minimum salaries for both starting and experienced teachers.”

The bill differs significantly from the House’s proposal. The House bill, prior to the Senate amendment, would keep federal special education funding with AEAs, while state and property tax funding would go to school districts to then spend with the AEAs for services. School districts would be allowed to go to other providers for general education and media services beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, allowing continued use of AEAs through “fee for service” contracts.

The bill returns to the House, which can accept the Senate’s changes, amend them or insist on the House language approved earlier. Ultimately, both chambers and the governor have to agree on identical language before the bill can become law.

While there has not yet been a compromise, both Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver and House Speaker Pat Grassley said in news conferences Thursday that negotiations between both chambers and the governor’s office are ongoing on a path forward for the bill. Grassley said there are components of the House language that his caucus wants to ensure is in the bill to provide “certainty” for special education parents, students and school districts.

“I think one thing that’s positive from the standpoint of — it looks like there’s a willingness to want to increase beginning teacher pay, it looks like there’s a willingness to want to have some level of reform when it comes to AEAs,” Grassley said. “… It’s just, obviously, what are the details and the final products gonna look like? But right now, we’re having some productive conversations with the other two.”

https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/03/18/iowa-senate-sends-amended-version-of-aea-bill-back-to-house/