Capitol Notebook: Iowa contracts on new program for special education services

DES MOINES — The state will contract with a suburban Des Moines nonprofit to provide guidance to Iowa families with special education students, the state education department announced Monday.

The Iowa Department of Education said it will allocate $1 million for the first year of the program to ASK Resource Center in Johnston. The contract period started March 1, according to a news release from the education department.

The funding will come from the state education department’s federal funding via the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which is dedicated to special education services for ages 3 to 21, according to the news release.

Previously, the state contracted with Iowa’s area education agencies on a similar program. The state in January informed AEA leaders that it no longer will contract with the agencies on what was called the Family Educator Partners program, under which AEA coordinators at no cost to families provided support, information and resources to families and educators about special education services that are available to Iowa students with disabilities and their families.

The state allocated $1.3 million for that program during the most recent state budget year, from that same federal funding source, according to an Iowa Department of Education spokeswoman.

A spokesman for Gov. Kim Reynolds said last week that the state is separating from the AEAs on the Family Educator Partners program because of conflicts of interest — the program workers also are AEA employees — and because of what he said were inconsistencies in support provided and confusion over roles and responsibilities as identified in a 2014 report.

The new program through ASK Resource Center will provide access to family support specialists and other professionals who will help families understand their rights in accessing what their child needs to be successful in and outside of the classroom, the news release says.

Under the new program, according to the state education department, ASK Resource Center will have 18 full-time equivalent staff, including a family support supervisor, lead family support specialist, nine full-time family support specialists and additional part-time professionals who will provide one-on-one support to families of students with disabilities.

Services provided will, according to the state, include helping families understand program requirements and case law, preparing families for meetings with their child’s Individualized Education Program team, attending IEP meetings with families to help them articulate concerns and make requests and supporting families in navigating through disputes with schools.

“The Department of Education remains committed to ensuring all families of children with disabilities consistently receive timely, high-quality resources and supports that are responsive to their needs,” Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said in a statement. “In partnership with ASK Resource Center, families across Iowa will have the support of family specialists, family mentors, and experts focused on accessibility and postsecondary transitions as they advocate for their children with disabilities.”

Reynolds names board appointees

Gov. Kim Reynolds has made dozens of appointments to state boards and commissions.

In addition to many reappointments, Reynolds named new members to some boards: Douglas Hoisington to the Board of Medicine, James Moses to the Board of Parole and Luke Martz to the Public Information Board.

All appointments are subject to confirmation by the Iowa Senate.

House ratchets up fentanyl death penalty

Iowa House Republicans passed a bill that would make a person eligible for a first-degree murder charge for selling or providing another person with fentanyl that results in their death.

A person who is convicted of first-degree murder under the bill would receive life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The bill, House File 2576, passed the House, 86-12. It is now eligible for consideration in the Senate.

Republicans said the bill was necessary to help address historically high overdose deaths from fentanyl and the trafficking of the drug in Iowa.

Some Democrats, though, warned the bill could implicate teenagers and people who share a drug or pill with a friend not knowing it has fentanyl in it. Under the bill, any delivery of the drug, including sharing in social settings, could make someone eligible for life in prison.

Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid that is often pressed to look like prescription opioids or mixed with other drugs being sold illicitly.

“This is an extreme punishment because we have an extreme problem in Iowa,” said Republican Rep. Anne Meyer of Fort Dodge. “And I’m here to fight for those parents of those family members of people that are getting swept up, for some reason taking a counterfeit pill.”

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau