256I.4  Early childhood Iowa state board duties.
  The state board shall perform the following duties:
  1.  Provide oversight of early childhood Iowa areas.
  2.  Manage and coordinate the provision of grant funding and other moneys made available to early childhood Iowa areas by combining all or portions of appropriations or other revenues as authorized by law.
  3.  Approve the geographic boundaries for the early childhood Iowa areas throughout the state and approve any proposed changes in the boundaries.
  4.  Create a strategic plan that supports a comprehensive system of early care, education, health, and human services. The strategic plan shall be developed with extensive community involvement. The strategic plan shall be annually updated and disseminated to the public. Specific items to be addressed in the strategic plan shall include but are not limited to all of the following:
  a.  Provisions to strengthen the state structure including interagency levels of collaboration, coordination, and integration.
  b.  Provisions for building public-private partnerships.
  c.  Provisions to support consolidating, blending, and redistributing state-administered funding streams and the coordination of federal funding streams. The strategic plan shall also address integration of services provided through area boards, other state and local commissions, committees, and other bodies with overlapping and similar purposes which contribute to redundancy and fragmentation in early care, education, health, and human services programs provided to the public.
  d.  Provisions for improving the efficiency of working with federally mandated bodies.
  e.  Identification of indicators that measure the success of the various strategies that impact communities, families, and children. The indicators shall be developed with input from area boards.
  5.  Adopt common performance measures and data reporting requirements, applicable statewide, for services, programs, and activities provided by area boards. The data from common performance measures and other data shall be posted on the early childhood Iowa internet site and disseminated by other means and shall also be aggregated to provide statewide information. The state board shall establish a submission deadline for the annual budget and any budget amendments submitted by early childhood Iowa area boards in accordance with section 256I.8, subsection 1, paragraph “d”, that allow a reasonable period of time for preparation by the area boards and for review and approval or request for modification of the materials by the state board.
  6.  Assist with the linkage of child welfare and juvenile justice decategorization projects with early childhood Iowa areas.
  7.  Coordinate and respond to requests from an area board relating to any of the following:
  a.  Waiver of existing rules, federal regulation, or amendment of state law, or removal of other barriers. The state board shall consider a community’s current coverage of family support programs and services when responding to an area board’s request for a waiver from the requirement in section 256I.9, subsection 3, paragraph “b”.
  b.  Pooling and redirecting of existing federal, state, or other public or private funds.
  c.  Seeking of federal waivers.
  d.  Consolidating community-level committees, planning groups, and other bodies with common memberships formed in response to state requirements.
  8.  Develop and implement a designation process for area boards. Allow for flexibility and creativity of area boards in implementing area board responsibilities and provide authority for the area boards to support the communities in the areas served. The process shall provide for action to address poor performing areas as well as higher performing areas. The state board shall determine how often area boards are reviewed under the process.
  9.  Adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A as necessary for the designation, governance, and oversight of area boards and the administration of this chapter. The state board shall provide for area board input in the rules adoption process.
  10.  Develop guidelines for recommended insurance or other liability coverage and take other actions to assist area boards in acquiring such coverage at a reasonable cost. Moneys expended by an area board to acquire necessary insurance or other liability coverage shall be considered an administrative cost.
  11.  In January each year, submit an annual report to the governor and general assembly that includes but is not limited to all of the following:
  a.  Any updates to the strategic plan.
  b.  The status and results of the early childhood Iowa initiative efforts to engage the public regarding the early care, education, health, human services, and other needs of children zero through age five.
  c.  The status and results of the efforts to develop and promote private sector involvement with the early care system.
  d.  The status of the early childhood Iowa initiative and the overall early care system in achieving the set of desired results.
  e.  The data and common performance measures addressed by the strategic plan, which shall include but is not limited to funding amounts.
  f.  The indicators addressed by the strategic plan along with associated data trends and their source.
  12.  Integrate statewide quality standards and results indicators adopted by other boards and commissions into the state board’s funding requirements for investments in early care, health, education, and human services.
  13.  Ensure alignment of other state departments’ activities with the strategic plan.
  14.  Develop and keep current memoranda of agreements between the state agencies represented on the state board to promote system development and integration and to clarify the roles and responsibilities of partner agencies.
  15.  Work with the early childhood Iowa program in building public-private partnerships for promoting the collaborative early care, education, health, and human services system.
  16.  Support and align the early childhood Iowa internet site with other agencies and improve internet communication.
  17.  Except for the fiscal oversight measures to be adopted by the department, adopt rules to implement this chapter. The rules shall include but are not limited to the following:
  a.  Indicators of the effectiveness of early childhood Iowa areas, area boards, and the services provided under the auspices of the area boards. The indicators shall be developed with input from area boards and shall build upon the core indicators of effectiveness for the school ready children grant program.
  b.  Minimum standards to further the provision of equal access to services subject to the authority of area boards.
  c.  Core functions for family support services, parent education programs, preschool services provided under a school ready children grant, and other programs and services provided under this chapter. The state board shall also develop guidelines and standards for state-supported family support programs, based upon existing guidelines and standards for the services.
  18.  Address other measures to advance the initiative. The measures may include any of the following:
  a.  Advance the development of integrated data systems.
  b.  Expand efforts to improve quality and utilize evidence-based practices.
  c.  Further develop kindergarten assessment approaches that are tied to state early learning standards.
  19.  Serve as the state advisory council required under the federal Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 110-134, as designated by the governor.
2010 Acts, ch 1031, §281; 2015 Acts, ch 140, §11, 12, 58, 59; 2016 Acts, ch 1113, §2, 3; 2017 Acts, ch 29, §63; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §1002; 2024 Acts, ch 1170, §292
Referred to in §256I.13
Subsection 19 stricken and rewritten