Reynolds’ proposal upends Iowa’s area education agencies

Iowa’s area education agencies that provide expertise to educators and families would be prohibited from offering services beyond special education for students — and school districts could drop their current agency and look elsewhere for the services under a bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The Republican governor said the changes are needed because the state’s nine area education agencies have grown beyond their core mission of serving students with disabilities, and some have become bloated and ineffective since they were created in the 1970s — but still leave districts without choice but to pay for them anyway.

“Over the last year, in dozens of conversations with parents, teachers, school administrators and AEA staff, it’s become clear that while some of our AEAs are doing great work, others are underperforming,” Reynolds said during her annual Condition of the State address Tuesday night. “We have superintendents who won’t use their services but are still required to pay for them.”

She said the results are “troubling,” with Iowa disabled students performing under national averages. She promised her bill would not reduce special-education funding “by one dime.”

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Her proposal, filed Wednesday as House Study Bill 542, however, has created more questions than answers for leaders of area education agencies and school officials, who are concerned about which services currently offered might not be included as special education services under the bill.

The proposal is “much more drastic than we anticipated and will have a major implication on services to kids,” said Nathan Wood, chief administrator of Great Prairie AEA — which serves about 35,000 students in 14 Southeast Iowa counties.

About 70 percent of funding for Iowa’s AEAs currently goes to support special education services. The agencies also meet schools’ needs in media and technology and educational services including math, science and literacy, which could be on the chopping block under the governor’s proposal.

AEAs would no longer be able to provide experts to school districts as they make curriculum decisions, support in implementing new curriculum, mental health support, services for students learning English as a second language and technology and cybersecurity services, among other things.

“The way the bill is written now, there will be consultants who are experts in math, science, literacy, behavior and computer science that would be unemployed,” Wood said.

Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Urban Education Network and Rural School Advocates of Iowa, said “overhaul” isn’t a strong enough word to describe how the bill would impact area education agencies.

“Boy, I hope they take their time and find out what parents of students receiving services and community members value in the AEA structure and not make changes flippantly,” she said.

Earlier this month when a gunman opened fire at Perry High School in Iowa, killing a sixth-grader named Ahmir Jolliff and wounding seven others, Heartland AEA responded that day with a crisis team, sending 50 school counselors to be available to families, students and staff.

Amy Knupp, executive director of special education at Central Rivers AEA in North-Central Iowa, said the bill could eliminate the agencies’ ability to have these crisis teams. “They’re not getting recognition for all the work they’ve put in,” said Knupp, who has been in touch with Heartland AEA leaders since the shooting.

“We’re boots on the ground every day,” Knupp said. “We know the parents, we know the teachers, we know the administrators, and we’re out there working hard.”

Literacy support is at risk under the proposal, Knupp said. Students who don’t qualify for special education but struggle in reading would no longer be able to access AEA literacy experts, Knupp said.

“Let’s develop a plan together,” Knupp said. “Decisions being made without anyone coming to talk to us and see what we do really is a disservice. Yes, we always want to improve. Help us do that.”

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Early access services for babies, toddlers

Another outstanding question is whether the bill would allow early access services to continue. The AEAs offer supports to families that are eligible with children from birth to under 3 years-old.

Parent Michelle Elgin began receiving services for her now 17-year-old son from Grant Wood when he was 6 months old. Elgin’s son has cerebral palsy, a motor disability that affects his ability to move, and a brain malformation. He’s not able to walk, talk, eat independently, write or type, she said.

“He’s required a lot of assistance and therapies over the years,” Elgin said.

Grant Wood AEA staff came to the Elgin’s house when he was a baby for a free developmental assessment. They provided her son with a stander — which supports a child in standing — to aid in his hip development.

Over the years, Elgin’s son has required assisted technology like mobility aids, screen reading software and speech recognition software to learn. She worries AEAs might not be allowed to continue offering some these services — even though her son qualifies for special education — under the proposed law.

AEA chief administrators say these expenses could fall under technology and education services — services that would be cut if the bill passes.

It can take trial and error to figure out which device is best to help support the learning of students with special needs, Elgin said. In the Benton Community School District where Elgin’s son attends school, there aren’t any other students using devices like the ones he needs to learn, she said.

The AEA was able to provide dozens of options to Elgin before the school district purchased the equipment, which can cost thousands of dollars — a potentially prohibiting cost for some districts and families.

If the AEA is no longer able to provide these services, “Where does my child get the free, unrestricted education he is promised by the state?” Elgin asked.

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Limiting AEAs could be ‘disastrous’

At Grant Wood AEA, which serves seven counties including Linn and Johnson, nearly 60 percent of agency staff is assigned to specific schools as part of a regional team. They work directly with children and educators.

John Speer, chief administrator of Grant Wood AEA, said the agency is “not afraid of efficiency,” but changing the structure of the agencies so quickly can lead to a “disastrous outcome.”

“We try to be better every day,” Speer said. “If you’re going to change a system as embedded in school districts as AEAs, you need to take more time with it and engage a broad base of people to make that change including lawmakers, AEAs, educators, parents and families.”

Officials with area education agencies across the state said the bill — if made law — would mean about a 30 percent reduction to their staff.

“I think it would negatively impact all schools because of the upheaval and discord it would cast around the whole system,” Speer said. “I don’t think districts regardless of size can replicate the services we offer.

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“Our staff are nervous,” Speer said. “They know they do good work and they’re valued by school districts, but they don’t feel valued right now by the governor.”

Doug Wheeler, superintendent of the College Community School District in Cedar Rapids, said four months — the Legislature hits its 100th day and possible adjournment April 16 — is not enough time to “make a really responsible decision” about a system that has been in place for decades.

Teachers in the College Community School District receive mentoring and support in managing student behavior in class from the AEA, Wheeler said.

Leisa Breitfelder, superintendent of North Linn and Central City school districts in Eastern Iowa, said that Grant Wood AEA’s curriculum consultants worked closely with teachers to recommend a new literacy curriculum the district adopted this year. AEA staff now are helping to implement the curriculum.

Central City's science curriculum is supplied by the AEA, and it assists with the school’s technology needs.

What does the bill say?

The governor's bill was published Wednesday in the Iowa House. Republican leaders as of Friday morning had not yet scheduled the first hearing on it.

Under current law, Iowa school districts send their state and federal funding for special education to one of the AEAs in their region and then rely on the AEAs to provide special education services to their students.

Instead of funding funneling through the districts to their AEA, the districts would be given the option under Reynolds’ proposal to keep that funding and allocate it for special education services as they choose: at an AEA or at a private company.

“If schools like the services from their AEA, they can continue to use them,” Reynolds said. “If they want to use a neighboring AEA instead, they can do that. Or, they can go outside the AEA system — contract with a private company or partner with other districts to share a speech or behavioral therapist. Or they can spend more on special education teachers and put the dollars right into the classroom.”

School districts would have to let the state know by April 30 as part of their annual budget certification process whether they intend to continue relying on the AEAs for all their special education services, or whether they intend to retain the special education money and decide where to spend it, according to the governor’s office.

If choosing a private company, school districts would be responsible for ensuring they are abiding by federal law in teaching students with disabilities, and the Iowa Department of Education would check their work to make sure providers are providing “fair and appropriate public education” to students with disabilities, according to the governor’s office.

Grant Wood AEA employs about 100 speech language pathologists serving more than 50 schools — both public and private — in its region. While this would be considered special education services, the proposal could lead to schools competing with each other for services if they opt out of their AEAs, Speer said.

“It would be less efficient, take more staff and be more expensive,” he said.

The bill also would eliminate property taxes that are collected to support AEA functions that are not related to special education. The governor's staff has projected that would be an impact of $68 million in fiscal 2025.

Oversight would move to the state Department of Education, not the district-appointed boards overseeing the nine AEAs now.

Reynolds’ plan would create a division of special education within the Iowa Department of Education that would take about $20 million that currently goes to AEAs and use it to hire 139 staff members who would focus on special education and assume oversight of the AEAs.

The Department of Education already has posted more than 20 job openings for a new Division of Special Education, including for a division director offering a salary of between $107,563 and $167,897.

Lawmakers react

Speaker of the House Pat Grassley told reporters after Reynolds' Condition of the State speech Tuesday there would be "an expectation" that special education services would still be provided, but he wanted school districts to have freedom to allocate resources and money as they wished.

"I think there's going to be more of a want to give that flexibility to school districts, and I think you'll have the ability to be creative with some of the flexibilities that it sounds like will be in the governor's bill," Grassley said.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Grimes, echoed Grassley. “You're looking at giving school districts the flexibility with that money to do what they want with it,” he said.

Democrats said they were skeptical and wanted to see details.

Senate Majority Leader Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, whose late daughter received special education services through the AEAs, said she was concerned the proposal could disproportionately affect rural areas.

“I know a lot of families with special needs children are so dependent on those services,” Jochum told reporters after Reynolds’ speech. “ … It sounds like we’re beginning to privatize even the area education agencies.”

Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association — the union representing public school teachers — called for continued support of area education agencies, noting the help of the Heartland AEA after the Perry shooting.

“Our public schools need more resources to help foster positive and inclusive school climates — they don’t need weapons and fewer education professionals in the buildings,” Beranek said in a statement.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com