Home rule legislation pushed for local school districts in Iowa

With a handful of bills that would take away some of local municipalities' abilities to self-govern, legislation that would give more power to school boards is moving forward in the statehouse.

School boards in Iowa now operate under Dillon's Rule, which allows them only to do what is explicitly allowed by Iowa Code. If districts were given so-called home rule, they would be able to do anything not expressly prohibited by Code - an entirely new mind-set for the elected boards that oversee Iowa's 333 public school districts.

While school district officials in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City said they still are unsure what they'd pursue under that system, supporters of the shift say it would give boards the flexibility to try new ideas.

'School district leaders have never operated under this framework, so they don't know what they're missing, so to speak,” said Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Urban Education Network of Iowa and the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, both of which support the change. 'They wouldn't necessarily have to contact the Department of Education or work with legislators to try something innovative.”

In the current system, the Iowa Department of Education interprets state education law and then issues binding guidance to school districts. Bill language indicates that guidance would become only advisory.

'What that explicitly means, we're still trying to understand that,” Iowa Department of Education spokeswoman Staci Hupp said, noting the department tries to involve school districts as it develops guidance. 'We've always seen it was the director of the Department of Education's responsibility to take education law and interpret it, and we've followed that responsibility.”

The Iowa School Board Association has supported home rule for school districts in the past, Government Relations Director Phil Jeneary said.

'School districts sometimes feel like they are held up on what could be an interpretation of a law,” Jeneary said. '…

Some interpretations of the laws have become too prescriptive.”

Legislation in previous sessions typically has died in a Democrat-controlled Senate, he said. Should it pass this session, Jeneary said he expects school boards to be more creative in how they spend funds.

Board members, he added, are elected officials and should be trusted with home rule.

'School board members have a pretty good pulse on the community, so I would imagine that they're not going to do something the majority of folks don't want to happen,” he said.

But during a session that already has spelled out major changes for education in Iowa, Iowa State Education Association President Tammy Wawro said she hopes lawmakers slow down as they consider this change.

Her organization, which spoke out against hurrying through legislation that stripped teachers' unions of the right to bargain with school districts for anything other than wages last month, is registered against the legislation.

'I find it very hypocritical that now we're saying, School districts should have all the control they want - except when we say they shouldn't,” Wawro said. Legislators 'have said it's so locals have more control, but what I have seen them do is take local control away.”

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