DES MOINES, Iowa — Each school district in Iowa has been playing a numbers game when it comes to what media and general education services they’ll receive from Iowa’s Area Education Agencies.
This school year, Iowa’s AEAs are still receiving 100% of special education funding and 40% of media and general education funds. Schools are then able to chose how they spend the other 60%, whether that’s through a different provider or the AEAs.
Barb Schwamman, superintendent of both Riceville and Osage community schools in rural northern Iowa said they’re spending all their money with the AEAs right now.
However, once we get into the second year of Iowa’s new law, AEAs will receive 90% of special education funding. Schools will get to choose how they spend the other 10% along with 100% of media and general education funding.
“We do know that services are going to cost us in essence maybe more money,” Schwamman said. “Because we are paying about $900 a day for services.”
With it being so early on in the school year, Schwamman said they’re not currently seeing any major problems with costs or services, but she does have concerns.
Iowa’s AEAs are experiencing staffing challenges, down 429 employees at the start of this school year compared to last year. It’s something Schwamman fears may start impacting how they receive services in the long run.
“Some of our school improvement consultants, they have to, instead of seeing four or five districts, they’re maybe seeing six or eight districts and that’s a lot,” Schwamman said. “They’re spreading people really thin.”
The law gives schools flexibility to hire new staff, instead of outsourcing with the AEAs. Schwamman said it’s easier for urban schools to take advantage of, as she already faces staffing challenges with her two rural districts that serve roughly 1,400 students combined.
“We share human resources, we share teachers with multiple districts, so again we are already sharing,” Schwamman said. “To think that we can create what the AEAs has amongst a bunch of small districts, why would we do that? We can do it in a regional better atmosphere.”
The new law also requires a task force to review the AEAs and make recommendations to lawmakers by December 31, but a meeting hasn’t been set to appoint members.
A spokesperson for House Republicans said they’re struggling to find a date where enough members of the legislative council can meet, but they’re hoping to get that set as soon as possible.
“The system was around for 50 years,” Schwamman said. “Why was it changed in a few months? Why wasn’t this a longer process? And again, we have really grave concerns about where’s ‘year two’ going for us. We are at this spot here where things changed a little bit, but we don’t know what’s going to happen this next legislative session.”
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