Iowa’s AEA restructure ‘phenomenal place to start,’ Gov. Kim Reynolds says

DES MOINES — Recently enacted changes to Iowa’s area education agencies, which provide special education services and other supports to public schools, represent “a phenomenal place to start,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday.

Reynolds earlier this year proposed overhauling the structure and funding of Iowa’s nine AEAs, and this past week she signed into law such a proposal, albeit one that was not as sweeping as her original pitch.

Area education agencies oversee education of Iowa students with disabilities and offer media and consulting services to schools and students in their boundaries.

During a news conference Wednesday in the governor’s formal office at the Iowa Capitol, Reynolds was asked whether she is satisfied with the new AEA law, or whether she will bring another legislative proposal for the 2025 legislative session.

“I’m happy with what the bill ended up. Really, it was a phenomenal place to start,” Reynolds said. “I thought it was a fair and reasonable place where they ended up.”

Reynolds said a review of the state’s AEA system was needed, and that she found in the system a lack of consistency, transparency and accountability.

“So there were some really good places for us to start,” Reynolds said. “And this comprehensive bill takes a really promising step forward to start to do all of that.”

Reynolds said she will continue to speak with public school and AEA leaders moving forward. She said her proposal was “never” intended to do away with the AEA system, but rather to “provide transparency, accountability, consistency," and to improve students’ outcomes.

“We’re building relationships (and) we’re understanding additional things that we can look at, like categorical (funding), providing more flexibility,” Reynolds said.

What the new law will do

Currently, federal and state special education funding goes directly to the nine agencies. AEAs also receive property tax funding for media services and other education services for schools in their region.

Once the new law is fully implemented in the second year, 10 percent of state funding for special education services will remain with school districts for them to use, while 90 percent will continue to flow directly to the AEAs.

In the second year, all state funding for other education services and media services will go directly to schools — which could use that money for AEA services or to get them from another entity.

The law also creates a division in the Iowa Department of Education — up to 53 new full-time equivalent positions — to provide oversight of special education services provided by the AEAs.

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