2001 Summary of Legislation EDUCATION Published by the Iowa General Assembly -- Legislative Service Bureau

EDUCATION LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 203 - School Finance -- Miscellaneous Changes (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act provides for the continuation and refinement of budget guarantee provisions currently in effect for school districts and additionally provides for reorganization incentives, on-time funding, and incentives for the formation of regional academies.

   The Act provides for the reimposition of reorganization incentives for school districts, which had expired in the past few years. The incentives include reducing the uniform levy for school districts of 600 pupils or less that reorganize, granting supplementary weighting for school districts that enter into a whole grade sharing arrangement and commit to studying reorganization, and continuing the supplementary weighting after reorganization if the school district does reorganize.

   The Act reauthorizes on-time funding for school districts experiencing increasing enrollment, and increases the level of on-time funding from the 50 percent level currently applicable to 100 percent of the difference between the actual enrollment and the budget enrollment.

   The Act provides for supplementary weighting for school districts that establish regional academies. A regional academy would offer advanced-level courses and vocational-technical courses, and could also include a virtual academy. The total amount of supplementary weighting granted would not exceed the equivalent of 15 additional pupils.

   The Act provides for a technical correction to change the date by which the Department of Management annually notifies county auditors of the level of the additional levy from June 1 to June 15.

   The Act provides for the continuation of the 100 percent budget guarantee, currently applicable to school districts, for the next three years, commencing with the school budget year beginning July 1, 2001. This enables a school district to maintain 100 percent of the previous year’s budget, adjusted to include the amount of the budget adjustment the district received in the previous year. Starting with the school budget year beginning July 1, 2004, school districts will no longer be eligible for the 100 percent "adjusted" guarantee, but will be eligible for a 101 percent guarantee without the adjustment for inclusion of the previous year’s guarantee. The Act provides for an optional 10-year phaseout of the 100 percent adjusted guarantee for school districts that would lose money based on the change to a 101 percent nonadjusted guarantee. These school districts will be able to utilize a guarantee of 90 percent of the difference between the guarantee level calculated for the school district for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2003, and the amount calculated for the current year if the guarantee were calculated to include the "adjustment" language. This option is decreased by 10 percent annually, until July 1, 2013, when all school districts will receive a budget guarantee based on 101 percent, without the adjustment for the previous year’s guarantee.

SENATE FILE 336 - State Regulation of Education Practitioner Rights, Responsibilities, Practices, and Ethics (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act rewrites a Code provision that directs the Board of Educational Examiners to develop a professional code that, at a minimum, addresses the habitual failure of a practitioner to fulfill the practitioner’s contractual obligations to a school district. The Act strikes the word "habitual" from the requirement, but requires the board to consider, when addressing failure to fulfill contractual obligations, factors beyond the practitioner’s control.

SENATE FILE 412 - Compulsory School Attendance Age (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act provides that if a child enrolled in a school district or accredited nonpublic school reaches the age of 16 on or after September 15, the child is deemed to be of compulsory attendance age for the entire academic year.

SENATE FILE 476 - Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act establishes a Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program with four major elements: beginning teacher mentoring and induction programs, career paths with compensation levels that strengthen the state’s ability to recruit and retain teachers, a team-based variable pay plan that provides additional compensation when student performance improves, and professional development designed to support best teaching practices. House File 413 (see Appropriations), which appropriates and allocates $40 million to fund the program in FY 2001-2002, amends a number of the provisions of this Act.

   STATEWIDE TEACHING STANDARDS. The Act establishes teaching standards, but allows school districts to establish criteria based upon core knowledge and skill criteria models developed by the Department of Education.

   SCHOOL DISTRICT RESPONSIBILITIES. The Act requires school districts to participate fully in the program by July 1, 2003. However, H.F. 413 provides that a school district is only required to participate if the General Assembly appropriates moneys for purposes of the program. A school district is eligible for state program assistance if the district agrees to commit and expend local moneys, implement a beginning teacher mentoring and induction program, provide more contract days for professional development, and adopt teacher career paths, a teacher career development program, a teacher evaluation program, and a team-based variable pay plan.

   MENTORING AND INDUCTION. The Act repeals Code Chapter 256E, which provided for a pilot teacher mentoring program, but replaces the program with a two-year statewide Beginning Teacher Mentoring and Induction Program. The Act requires school districts to provide such a program by July 1, 2002. Effective July 1, 2003, licensure beyond a provisional license is tied to successful completion of a program, though the Act exempts teachers employed by accredited nonpublic schools or from other states or countries who can document three recent years of successful teaching experience. A school district may offer a teacher a third year in the program at the district’s expense. A probationary teacher who fails to successfully complete the program may appeal the determination of the board to an adjudicator and the adjudicator’s decision may be appealed to the district court.

   CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLANNING/CAREER PATH. The department is directed to coordinate a statewide network of career development for Iowa teachers. A school district participating in the program must demonstrate that its program meets the requirements listed in the Act and incorporate its career development plan into its comprehensive school improvement plan, aligning career development with the school district’s long-term student learning needs. Each teacher, with the cooperation of the teacher’s supervisor, must develop an individual teacher career development plan based upon the Iowa teaching standards and the needs of the teacher, students, attendance center, and the school district. The plan must be reviewed annually. The Act permits the State Board of Education to approve the provision of teacher career development by public and private entities.

   CAREER PATH COMPENSATION. The Act establishes four teacher career levels: beginning, career, career II, and advanced. The Act requires that a teacher be comprehensively evaluated prior to advancing to the next level. Under the Act, a beginning teacher must be paid $1,500 more than the previous year’s beginning teacher salary unless the district’s minimum salary for a first-year beginning teacher exceeds $28,000; and a career teacher must be paid at least $2,000 more than the average beginning teacher salary unless the minimum salary for a career teacher exceeds $30,000. It is the intent of the General Assembly that school districts pay a career II teacher a salary that is at least $5,000 more than the minimum career teacher salary and pay an advanced teacher, who possesses the skills and qualifications to assume leadership roles and has received the recommendation of a review panel, a salary at least $13,500 greater than the minimum career teacher salary. No teacher shall receive less under the Act than the teacher receives for the 2001-2002 school year, but if a comprehensive evaluation in a career teacher’s fifth year indicates that the teacher no longer meets the standards, another comprehensive evaluation will be conducted in the following school year. If that evaluation indicates that the teacher’s practice fails to meet the standards, the teacher will be ineligible to receive any additional pay increase other than a cost-of-living raise.

   EVALUATION REQUIREMENTS/REVIEW PANEL. By July 1, 2004, under the Act, a teacher’s performance must be reviewed annually by a certified evaluator selected by the principal in consultation with the teacher. An administrator or the administrator’s designee must comprehensively evaluate a teacher at least once every five years. A teacher denied advancement based upon a comprehensive evaluation may appeal the decision to an adjudicator, whose decision is final. The department is directed to establish up to five regional review panels for purposes of reviewing the portfolios of career II teachers seeking to receive an advanced designation and to perform random audits of the comprehensive evaluations conducted throughout the state. School districts and area education agencies may collaborate to establish a pool of evaluators. A teacher who does not receive a recommendation from a review panel may appeal to an administrative law judge located in the Department of Inspections and Appeals. The Act permits the use of Phase III moneys under the Educational Excellence Program to be used to pay teachers who participate on a peer review team or in peer coaching efforts.

   EVALUATOR TRAINING PROGRAM. The department is directed to establish an evaluator training program to improve the skills of school district evaluators in making employment decisions and recommendations for licensure, and moving teachers through a career path. The programs may be provided by a public or private entity and the department must distribute a list of program providers to each school district. An administrator who conducts evaluations of teachers must complete the training. By July 1, 2002, under the Act, certification is a condition of administrator licensure renewal. The Act repeals language relating to an evaluator license. A practitioner other than an administrator may also enroll in the program. Under H.F. 413, a practitioner who achieves certification prior to July 1, 2004, will be compensated $1,000 by the school district from moneys appropriated by the General Assembly.

   VARIABLE PAY TEAM-BASED PILOT PROGRAM. The Act establishes a Team-Based Variable Pay Pilot Program for FY 2001-2002. An approved school district must administer assessments at the beginning and end of the school year to demonstrate growth in student achievement. The licensed practitioners employed at a participating attendance center demonstrating improvement in student achievement will share in a cash award to be paid from moneys appropriated by the General Assembly under H.F. 413. Other staff may also receive a cash award.

   REPORT. The Act requires the department to annually report statewide program progress to the Senate and House Education Committees, the Legislative Education Accountability and Oversight Committee, the deans of the colleges of education at approved practitioner preparation institutions, the state board, the Governor, and to school districts.

   PRAXIS II. The Act requires the Board of Educational Examiners to administer the Praxis II examination for knowledge of pedagogies and one content area to each applicant for a provisional teaching license. The fees for the exam shall be paid, as provided in H.F. 413, by the board from funds appropriated by the General Assembly. The board is to compile and submit the results of Praxis examinations to the Senate and House standing committees on Education and the state board by December 1, 2003. The provision related to the Praxis examination is repealed effective June 30, 2001.

   PRACTITIONER PREPARATION CREDIT TRANSFER STUDY. The Act requires the State Board of Regents to conduct a study of the transfer of credits between practitioner preparation institutions to determine whether the current situation is fair and consistent.

   LEGISLATIVE IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE. The Act requests that the Legislative Council establish a two-year legislative implementation committee to conduct a comprehensive study of team-based variable pay.

SENATE FILE 480 - Community College Faculty Licensing -- Review (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act directs the Department of Education to establish a task force to conduct a comprehensive review of the licensing of community college faculty by the Board of Educational Examiners, including but not limited to related issues such as tenure and termination procedures. The department must submit its findings and recommendations to the Senate and House standing committees on Education by December 1, 2001.

HOUSE FILE 89 - School Curriculum and Telecommunications -- Supervision of Students (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act provides that the supervision of kindergarten through grade 12 students receiving curriculum via the Iowa Communications Network may be provided by the licensed teacher at the originating site or may be provided by the school district receiving the curriculum if the district decides it is advisable or if the originating site teacher requests it.

HOUSE FILE 191 - School Finance -- Allowable Growth (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act sets the state percent of growth under the State School Foundation Program at 4 percent for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2002. The Act is applicable for computing state school foundation aid for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2002.

HOUSE FILE 270 - Campus Security and Sexual Abuse Policies and Reports (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY. This Act strikes language that requires accredited postsecondary institutions in Iowa to file with the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning of the Department of Human Rights a copy of an annual report, required by the federal Student Right-To-Know and Campus Security Act, which relates to campus crime statistics. Under the Act, the institutions are no longer required to file with the division a copy of a written policy relating to sexual abuse that the institutions must disseminate to students.

HOUSE FILE 293 - School Board Duties -- Officers -- Annual Settlements (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act eliminates language that requires the board of directors of a school district to appoint a secretary and treasurer and settle the books for the previous fiscal year by August 15. However, the Act requires a school board to settle the previous year’s books on or after August 31 and prior to the organizational meeting held after the regular school election.

HOUSE FILE 294 - Compensation of School Board Members (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act permits a school board member to receive compensation from the school board for part-time or temporary employment as long as the total amount of compensation paid to the board member by the school district does not exceed $2,500 annually.

HOUSE FILE 353 - Driver Education -- Instruction Time (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act requires the Department of Education to limit the number of minutes of classroom instruction, per student per day, in an approved driver education course to 180 minutes. Rules adopted by the State Board of Education currently set the maximum at 120 minutes in a single day.

HOUSE FILE 389 - School Board Duties -- Suspension of Practitioners (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act provides a board of directors of a school district that is considering termination or continuance of a practitioner’s contract with an additional option to suspend the practitioner with or without pay for a period specified by the board.

HOUSE FILE 462 - Area Education Agency Administrative Costs Reimbursement -- Federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act Funds (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act provides that the 25 percent cap on the amount of federal medical assistance reimbursement that an area education agency (AEA) may retain for the administrative costs of implementing reimbursement for eligible services does not apply to those services the AEA provides under the Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities Program (Part C) of the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.

   The Act takes effect April 17, 2001.

HOUSE FILE 637 - Libraries, Library Services, and Administration and School Improvement Technology Funds (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act changes the name of the regional library system to the library service areas, provides for the appointment of the library service area trustees rather than for election of the trustees, expands the duties of the areas, and requires the State Board of Education to develop a biennial unified plan of service and service delivery in consultation with the library service areas and the area education agency (AEA) media centers. The Act also adds to the list of expenditures an AEA may make using School Improvement Technology Block Grant moneys by allowing an AEA to enter into a lease or lease-purchase agreement for technology.

   ADDITIONAL SERVICES TO LIBRARIES. Current law requires regional libraries to provide supporting services to libraries. The Act provides that the services shall include consulting, continuing education, interlibrary loan, and reference services to assure consistency of service statewide.

   LIBRARY SERVICE AREA BOARDS OF TRUSTEES. Seven regional library trustees are currently elected to each of seven boards serving seven regions. Under the Act, the library service area trustees are chosen from geographic districts drawn upon the same county lines as the regional system. Board membership shall include at least a representative of an AEA media division, a public library trustee, a librarian, a community college representative, a person representing library patrons, and two persons representing the public at large. The terms of the elected regional library trustees expire under the Act on July 1, 2001. The Act requires that the trustees assume all outstanding obligations of the regional library and be liable for the valid contracts of the regional library that the library area replaces. The regional library is directed to transfer its assets and title to any real estate it owns to the library service area.

   AEA MEDIA SERVICES SUPPORT TO SCHOOL LIBRARIES. The Act requires AEA boards to assist in facilitating interlibrary loans between school districts and other libraries. The Act directs the AEAs to include as a member on its media center advisory committee a library service area trustee or staff member appointed by the Commission of Libraries. The Act also permits a consortium of AEAs to cooperatively engage in the technology activities authorized under the School Improvement Technology Block Grant Program.

   LIBRARY FUSION. The Act amends the Code chapter that provides for the establishment of county library districts to allow a library district to be established by one or more counties, one or more cities, or any combination of cities and counties.

   DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDY. The Act directs the Department of Management to coordinate a study of city and county support of public library funding and determine whether cities and counties are in compliance with state funding requirements, identify inequities between city and county funding, and determine the adequacy of the current minimum levy. The department must submit its findings and recommendations to the Senate and House standing committees on Education and the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.

HOUSE FILE 643 - Education -- Miscellaneous Changes (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act makes the following statutory revisions relating to the Department of Education, school districts, and area education agencies (AEAs):

   STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION. The Act strikes language that requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules providing that the educational program each school and accredited nonpublic school must provide to at-risk students be based on the Child Development Coordinating Council’s definition of "at-risk student." The Act directs the state board to adopt rules requiring accredited schools and school districts to teach from and use a "gender fair," rather than the current "nonsexist," approach.

   PROVISIONS RELATED TO ACCREDITED NONPUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS. The Act repeals a provision requiring school districts to adopt goals to improve student achievement and performance and transmit a plan for achieving its goals to the department, along with a periodic assessment for use in determining whether its goals have been achieved. The Act also strikes and replaces language that requires school districts to determine educational needs, develop goals, and evaluate and report progress, and requires the local board to appoint an advisory committee to make recommendations. The Act changes language relating to the comprehensive school improvement plan that school districts and accredited nonpublic schools are required to submit to the department. The new language requires accredited schools and school districts to appoint a school improvement advisory committee to make recommendations to the board or authorities, which will be used by the board or authorities to determine the major educational needs, student learning goals, long-range and annual improvement goals, desired levels of student performance, and progress toward meeting the goals. The Act also requires that school districts incorporate into their comprehensive school improvement plan the criteria and procedures for identification and integration of at-risk children that districts have incorporated into their kindergarten admissions programs.

   The Act eliminates a provision requiring a school district to submit a progress report under the School Improvement Technology Block Grant Program and requires licensed professional staff of the district to be responsible for technology integration throughout the district.

   The Act changes the date of the enrollment count for children requiring special education from December 1 to November 1, and the date for a school district to certify to the department its additional enrollment because of special education is changed from December 15 to November 15. The Act also provides that a student shall not be included in a district’s enrollment if the student was eligible to receive a diploma in the previous year of enrollment or if the student continues enrollment in the district to take courses for which the student may receive postsecondary course credit. In addition, the Act provides shared-time weighting for all students in grades 9 through 12 who are dual enrolled.

   School districts that request additional allowable growth for programs for returning dropouts and dropout prevention must, under the Act, include in their program plans the qualifications required of personnel delivering the program.

   The Act permits a school board to authorize its superintendent to sign teachers’ contracts. The Act also requires school boards to provide not-for-profit, professional education associations equal access to teacher mailboxes for distribution of professional literature.

   TRANSPORTATION ISSUES. The Act provides that when a school patron or school district board is dissatisfied with the decision of an AEA board regarding school transportation, the decision may be appealed to the Director of the Department of Education.

   The Act strikes language that requires the department to adopt rules establishing criteria for issuing a statement of necessity, which a school board or a school administrator must provide if a student is to be issued a special minors’ driver’s license. However, a school board must adopt a policy establishing the criteria for approval or denial of a special minors’ driver’s license. The Act permits a student to appeal the decision of a school administrator to the school board. The decision of the school board is final.

   ADDITIONAL REPEALS. Provisions creating and setting forth the duties of the Youth 2000 Coordinating Council are repealed. The Act also repeals provisions establishing a State Council on Vocational Education attached to the department.

HOUSE FILE 670 - Alternative Licensure -- VETOED BY THE GOVERNOR (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This bill would have allowed individuals possessing at least a bachelor’s degree to be licensed as administrators in schools with enrollments of at least 5,500, and as teachers in vocational education fields or subject areas or in shortage areas, upon completion of two 12-semester-hour courses and an internship.

   Under the bill, approved nontraditional practitioner preparation programs would be required to include coursework in education theory, instructional methods, and classroom management, and administrator preparation programs would be required to include coursework in education management, governance organization, and planning.

   An institution providing nontraditional preparation programs would also be required to enter into a written agreement with a school district under which the school district would provide interns with a one-year classroom teaching experience or one year of administrative experience. Interns would be required to successfully complete the first 12-semester-hour course of study prior to beginning the teaching or administrator internship. Upon completion of the first course of study, the institution preparing an individual would have been required to submit to the Board of Educational Examiners a recommendation for licensure of the intern. If the institution recommended licensure, the intern would be issued a nontraditional conditional license by the board. The bill defined "nontraditional conditional license" to mean the authority given to allow a person to legally serve as a teacher or administrator on a temporary basis while the person completes a nontraditional practitioner preparation internship program.

   The second course of study could be waived based upon the institution’s comprehensive evaluation of the intern. The bill required that the intern be monitored by the institution during the intern’s first nine weeks of employment as a teacher or during the intern’s year of employment as an administrator.

   Under the bill, individuals would be eligible for licensure as an administrator if, beyond successfully completing the preparation program, the individual possessed at least a master’s degree in business administration, public administration, or a comparable degree, or possessed at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited postsecondary institution and life experience equivalent to a master’s degree in a management field, and had been employed for at least 10 of the last 15 years in a management position.

   An individual could be licensed to teach students in grades 9 through 12 in the vocational education field or subject area of the individual’s academic background and employment experience, or in a teacher shortage area if, beyond successfully completing the preparation program, the individual possessed at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited postsecondary institution, had been employed for at least five consecutive years in an area requiring knowledge and practical application of the individual’s postsecondary academic background, and could document successful experience working with children. In addition to these requirements, an individual seeking a nontraditional conditional license to teach special education students in grades 9 through 12 would need to document five years of successful experience working with children requiring special education. An individual issued a provisional teaching license after a successful teaching experience under a nontraditional license would be required to successfully complete a two-year beginning teacher mentoring and induction program.

   The bill directed the Board of Educational Examiners to administer, for two years, the Praxis II examination for knowledge of pedagogies and content to each individual applying for a nontraditional teaching license.

   The bill also required the Department of Education to compile and report, analyze and compare, in consultation with the Board of Educational Examiners, information relating to nontraditional practitioner preparation internship programs and the requirements for practitioner licensure or endorsement that require a master’s degree and the master’s degree requirements established by approved practitioner preparation graduate programs. The department was to have submitted its findings and recommendations in reports to the General Assembly.

HOUSE FILE 674 - Area Education Agency Accreditation and Reorganization or Dissolution (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. This Act extends the area education agency (AEA) accreditation approval period from three years to five years and permits two or more AEAs to voluntarily reorganize, allows an AEA to initiate dissolution procedures, and requires that an AEA initiate dissolution procedures if petitioned by at least 20 percent of the board members serving on each school district board within the area served.

   Reorganization and attachment of an affected AEA’s area can only take place if the areas affected are contiguous, 20 percent of the school districts within the affected AEAs file a petition for reorganization, a majority of the members of the affected AEA boards approve the reorganization, or, in the case of dissolution, if a majority of the members of the affected school districts voting approve of the dissolution.

   PLANNING. The AEA boards contemplating a voluntary reorganization must develop and conduct studies of the agency resources and programs, survey school districts to determine current and future needs, hold public hearings, and consult with the Director of the Department of Education in the development of surveys and plans.

   ASSETS AND LIABILITIES. The assets and liabilities of the affected AEAs become the responsibility of the board of the newly formed AEA.

   DEPARTMENTAL REVIEW. The State Board of Education must review the plan and grant approval or return the plan with the state board’s recommendations. An approved plan takes effect on the following July 1.

   CONTRACTS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING. Current contracts for the administrator and teachers of an affected AEA are to be preserved in the formation of the new AEA. The collective bargaining agreement of the AEA with the largest basic enrollment for the year prior to the reorganization serves as the base agreement.

   SCHOOL DISTRICT PETITION TO JOIN. The Act permits school districts contiguous to or within a newly reorganized AEA to petition to join a newly reorganized AEA or a contiguous AEA.

   INITIAL BOARD. The Act provides for the appointment of AEA directors to the initial board of a newly reorganized agency. The initial board must call a director district convention to elect members of the regular board. The initial board has control of the employment of all personnel for the newly formed agency for the ensuing school year, and may establish policy, enter into contracts, and complete such planning and take such action as is essential for the efficient management of the newly formed AEA.

   ACCREDITATION. A newly formed AEA is considered accredited for purposes of budget approval by the state board, but must meet state accreditation requirements and standards within one year of reorganizing. The state board must inform the new agency of the accreditation on-site visit schedule.

   DISSOLUTION. If a dissolution proposal has been prepared by area school boards and is accompanied by a petition signed by at least 20 percent of the school district boards within the area served, the board of directors of an AEA must establish a dissolution commission.

   DISSOLUTION COMMISSION. The commission must request statements from contiguous agencies outlining each agency’s willingness to accept territory attachments and must meet with the contiguous agency boards and with local school boards in drawing up the dissolution proposal. Within one year, the commission must either send a copy of its dissolution proposal to the affected AEA board or inform the board that it cannot agree upon a dissolution proposal. An agency board that objects to an attachment of area must send its objections in writing to the commission within 10 days, and the commission may modify the dissolution proposal. A new commission may be formed if agreement cannot be reached on a dissolution proposal.

   DISSOLUTION HEARING. Within 10 days following the filing of the dissolution proposal, the affected board must fix a date and publish notice for a hearing. The affected board must review hearing testimony and adopt, or amend and adopt, the dissolution proposal.

   VOTE BY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS. Within 30 days of the hearing, the school boards of districts located within the affected AEA and within the area served by AEAs to which area of the affected AEA will be attached must vote on the dissolution proposal. The dissolution proposal must pass by a simple percent of the votes cast. An approved dissolution proposal must be forwarded to the state board for approval by November 1.

HOUSE FILE 695 - School-to-Career Program -- Miscellaneous Changes (full text of act)

   BY COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. This Act makes amendments to the School-to-Career Program.

   The Act adds a definition of "employer," which means an employer or a consortium of two or more employers.

   The Act eliminates two provisions that are currently required to be in an agreement between an employer and a participant for a certified program. The provisions relate to the two-year work requirement following the completion of the participant’s postsecondary education required by the certified program.

   The Act provides that, if an employer is a consortium of two or more employers, the employer shall not be subject to program requirements relating to payment of a participant’s postsecondary education if tuition is included as part of a stipend paid by the employer to a participant.

   The Act also amends a provision relating to the amount of a refund an employer may claim for each participant in the program employed by the employer.

RELATED LEGISLATION

SENATE FILE 141 -- Accelerated Career Education Program -- Allocation of Program Job Credits (Complete summary under TAXATION.)

   This Act amends the Accelerated Career Education Program in relation to using program job credits to meet program job costs.

SENATE FILE 198 -- Family Investment Program -- Postsecondary Education Assistance (Complete summary under HUMAN SERVICES.)

   This Act revises the time period allowed for a Family Investment Program participant to complete postsecondary coursework.

SENATE FILE 267 -- Supplemental Appropriations and Reductions (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act relates to state budgetary matters by making reductions to appropriations made for FY 2000-2001 from the General Fund of the State and includes an across-the-board cut that was vetoed by the Governor.

SENATE FILE 525 -- Federal Block Grant Appropriations (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act appropriates federal block grant and other nonstate moneys to state agencies for the federal fiscal year beginning October 1, 2001, and ending September 30, 2002, including funding made available to the state for a number of education programs.

SENATE FILE 535 -- Appropriations -- Education (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act appropriates moneys for FY 2001-2002 from the General Fund of the State to the College Student Aid Commission, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Department of Education, and the State Board of Regents and its institutions. This year’s Act appropriates over $920.7 million and provides 17,395.1 full-time equivalent positions (FTEs), which is $59.3 million under, and 42.4 FTEs over, the FY 2000-2001 estimated net appropriations. However, the Governor item vetoed provisions relating to tuition grants and scholarships to restore $2.65 million in state education funding.

HOUSE FILE 73 -- Military Honor Guard Services by Veterans Organizations (Complete summary under STATE GOVERNMENT.)

   This Act provides that an honor guard unit of members of a recognized military veterans organization shall be allowed to perform any honor guard service on public property.

HOUSE FILE 413 -- Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program -- Appropriations and Allocations (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act appropriates $40 million from the Endowment for Iowa’s Health Account of the Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund to the Department of Education for FY 2001-2002 for purposes of the Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program as enacted by 2001 Iowa Acts, S.F. 476. The Act amends numerous provisions enacted in S.F. 476.

HOUSE FILE 662 -- Community Empowerment Initiative (Complete summary under CHILDREN & YOUTH.)

   This Act relates to Iowa’s Community Empowerment Initiative and authorizes an area education agency to serve as the fiscal agent for a local board and provides for the Legislative Council to convene a summit meeting to address various community empowerment issues.

HOUSE FILE 680 -- Child and Dependent Adult Abuse Reporting (Complete summary under CHILDREN & YOUTH.)

   This Act relates to child and dependent adult abuse reporting, including new education-related mandatory reporters of abuse, and abuse reporter training, and provides for civil liability for employers or supervisors who apply a policy, work rule, or other requirement that interferes with a person making an abuse report.

HOUSE FILE 698 -- Appropriations -- Regulatory and Expenditure Matters -- EXTRAORDINARY SESSION (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act relates to regulatory and expenditure matters and includes authorization for the Treasurer of State to create bond reserve funds for the School Infrastructure Fund.

HOUSE FILE 718 -- Appropriations -- Economic Development (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act makes appropriations from the General Fund of the State to the University of Iowa, the University of Northern Iowa, and Iowa State University. Beginning with FY 2001-2002, the Act reduces the standing limited appropriation for the School-to-Career Program employer refunds and allows moneys in the Job Training Fund to be used by a community college to conduct entrepreneur development and support activities.

HOUSE FILE 719 -- Appropriations -- State Government Technology and Operations (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act relates to state government technology and operations by making appropriations to a number of entities concerned with technology and by making appropriations for a number of specific technology projects. The Act makes appropriations for FY 2001-2002 from the General Fund of the State for the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) and for support functions related to the network provided by the Public Broadcasting Division of the Department of Education. The Act appropriates moneys from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund to the Pooled Technology Account and allocates amounts from the account to the Department of Education for transfer to the Community College Vocational-Technical Technology Improvement Program and for the purpose of making technology available to students of accredited nonpublic schools, and to the University of Northern Iowa for developing a Twenty-First Century Learning Initiative. The Act requests that the Legislative Council establish an interim study committee relating to distance learning and related ICN educational issues. The Governor item vetoed provisions prohibiting the Information Technology Department from spending any pooled technology dollars on digital broadcasting facilities for Iowa Public Television, exempting UNI from consulting with the Information Technology Department to ensure that purchases and contracts for twenty-first century learning infrastructure are compatible with other state agencies, and establishing that amounts contained in the Pooled Technology Fund may be utilized for the Community College Vocational-Technical Improvement Program in future years.

HOUSE FILE 732 -- Appropriations – Human Services (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act makes appropriations to the Department of Human Services and includes provisions for grant funding to community empowerment areas.

HOUSE FILE 736 -- Tax Administration -- Additional Related Matters (Complete summary under TAXATION.)

   This Act provides a more narrow application of the exemption of "educational institution" under the sales tax exemption for sales used by educational institutions. This results in the exemption being applied to those institutions which are primarily educational institutions as opposed to those institutions whose educational activities are an additional or incidental activity. This provision takes effect January 1, 2002.

HOUSE FILE 739 -- Application of Sales and Services Tax Receipts to Bonded Indebtedness -- Political Subdivisions (Complete summary under TAXATION.)

   This Act provides that local sales and services tax for school infrastructure receipts may be applied by a political subdivision to reduce a levy for the payment of bonds.

HOUSE FILE 755 -- Miscellaneous Appropriations, Reductions, and Other Provisions (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   Division II of this Act reduces the standing appropriations for FY 2001-2002 for area education agencies by $7.5 million, for school technology by $20 million, and for at-risk children programs by $1 million. Division V of this Act changes from "on November 1" to "by November 1" the time for a school district to determine its additional enrollment because of special education for purposes of the state school aid formula. The division also provides that a child over the compulsory school attendance age who is receiving private instruction may be registered in a public school for dual enrollment purposes and a pupil who is enrolled for dual enrollment purposes but is participating only in extracurricular activities shall be counted as only one-tenth of a pupil. The division allows a school district to join an adjacent, newly reorganized area education agency. The division also provides changes in requirements for a tax increment financing (TIF) district in which revenues from the school district’s physical plant and equipment levy are necessary to pay the principal and interest on bonds issued by a municipality prior to July 1, 2001, to fund an urban renewal project in the TIF district.

HOUSE FILE 759 -- Miscellaneous Funding Restoration, Reductions, and Other Provisions - SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SESSION (Complete summary under APPROPRIATIONS.)

   This Act addresses public funding and regulatory matters, primarily making supplemental appropriations to restore appropriations that were subject to the Governor's across-the-board reductions of 4.3 percent to executive branch allotments and includes a number of supplemental appropriations for education-related purposes.

© 1998 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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