Education Legislation

SENATE FILE 348 - Charter Schools

SENATE FILE 2168 - University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Facilities — Issuance of Bonds

SENATE FILE 2228 - School Finance — Use of Physical Plant and Equipment Levy Moneys

SENATE FILE 2258 - Board of Educational Examiners — Determinations of Licensee Qualification

SENATE FILE 2259 - Education Regulation and Funding — Miscellaneous Provisions

SENATE FILE 2260 - Area Education Agencies — Reorganization or Dissolution

SENATE FILE 2315 - School Finance — Allowable Growth, Area Education Agency Payments, and State Foundation Aid

SENATE FILE 2316 - Sale of Iowa State University of Science and Technology Dairy Research Farm — Use of Proceeds

SENATE FILE 2323 - Registered Nurse Recruitment

SENATE FILE 2328 - School Finance — Allowable Growth

HOUSE FILE 2138 - Student Financial Aid Programs — Modification or Waiver of Requirements in National Emergency

HOUSE FILE 2139 - Vocational-Technical Tuition Grants — Maximum Amount

HOUSE FILE 2151 - Confidential Public Records — School Security or Emergency Preparedness

HOUSE FILE 2183 - School District Boards of Directors — Size and Method of Election

HOUSE FILE 2394 - Community College Faculty

HOUSE FILE 2404 - School Finance — Weighting for Limited English Proficient Students

HOUSE FILE 2454 - Character Education Programs

HOUSE FILE 2467 - Student Financial Aid Programs — Sanctions Against Licenses of Defaulters

HOUSE FILE 2475 - Security Interests in Education Loans

HOUSE FILE 2482 - Board of Educational Examiners — Licensee Disciplinary Investigations and Proceedings

HOUSE FILE 2515 - Education — Administration, Funding, Programming, and Services

HOUSE FILE 2549 - Primary and Secondary Education — Employee Standards, Career Development, Assessment, and Remuneration

HOUSE FILE 2571 - Iowa Cultural Trust

Related Legislation

SENATE FILE 2197 - Sex Offenders — Residency Restrictions — Child Care Facilities and Elementary or Secondary Schools

SENATE FILE 2203 - Iowa Communications Network — Access by Homeland Security or Defense Facilities

SENATE FILE 2273 - Juneteenth National Freedom Day

SENATE FILE 2275 - Substantive Code Corrections

SENATE FILE 2304 - Miscellaneous Appropriations, Reductions, Transfers, and Other Provisions

SENATE FILE 2305 - Tax Administration and Related Matters

SENATE FILE 2326 - Appropriations — Miscellaneous Provisions, Reductions, Transfers, and Other Matters

HOUSE FILE 2075 - Economic Emergency Funds — Transfer to Tobacco Settlement and Senior Living Trust Funds

HOUSE FILE 2150 - Military Honor Guard Services on Public Property

HOUSE FILE 2248 - Bill of Rights Day

HOUSE FILE 2338 - Sex Offender Registration — Enrollment, Employment, or Vocation at Higher Education Institution

HOUSE FILE 2395 - Support of Dependents — Calculation and Withholding — Medical and Educational Support

HOUSE FILE 2472 - Elections and Voter Registration

HOUSE FILE 2582 - Federal Block Grant Appropriations

HOUSE FILE 2587 - Energy and Environmental Research and Development — Iowa Energy Center — Alternative Energy Revolving Loan Program

HOUSE FILE 2614 - Tobacco Settlement, Infrastructure, and Environment First Funds — Appropriations and Miscellaneous Related Changes

HOUSE FILE 2622 - Tax Administration — Additional Related Matters

HOUSE FILE 2623 - Compensation for Public Employees and Additional Provisions

HOUSE FILE 2625 - Miscellaneous Appropriations, Reductions, Transfers, and Other Provisions — Fiscal Year 2001-2002 — SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SESSION

SENATE FILE 348 - Charter Schools Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act directs the State Board of Education to initiate a pilot program to test the effectiveness of charter schools. A pilot charter school is a public school, which is either a new school within an existing public school or is an existing public school converted to charter status. The Act sets up the provisions by which, and the purposes for which, pilot charter school programs may be established.

CONDITIONAL EFFECTIVENESS — FEDERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS. The Act takes effect when the Department of Education receives federal funding for purposes of providing financial assistance for the planning, program design, and initial implementation of public charter schools. The department must notify the Code Editor upon receipt of such federal funds. If federal rules or regulations adopted relating to the distribution or utilization of these funds are inconsistent with the Act, the Act directs the state board to adopt rules to comply with the requirements of the federal rules or regulations.

APPLICATION. To receive approval to establish a charter school, the principal, teachers, or parents or guardians of students at an existing public school must submit an application to a public school board to convert an existing public school attendance center to a charter school. The application must demonstrate the support of at least 50 percent of the teachers employed at the school and 50 percent of the parents or guardians voting whose children are enrolled at the school, provided that a majority of the parents or guardians eligible to vote participate in the ballot process. The Act specifies the essential elements of the application, including but not limited to the method for admission; the mission, purpose, innovation, and specialized focus of the charter school; and the performance goals and objectives by which the school’s student achievement shall be judged, the measures to be used to assess progress, and the current baseline status with respect to the goals.

APPROVAL. The public school board must by a majority vote approve or deny the charter school application within 60 calendar days. An applicant may appeal school board denial of the application to the state board. If approved, the school board must submit the application to the state board, and if approved by the state board, the application constitutes an agreement between the school board and the charter school for the operation of the charter school. The state board shall approve not more than 10 charter school applications and not more than one charter school application per school district. However, if the state board receives 10 or fewer applications as of June 30, 2003, and two or more of the applications received by the state board by that date are submitted by one school district, the state board may approve any or all of the applications submitted by the school district.

GENERAL OPERATING REQUIREMENTS. A charter school may elect to comply with one or more provisions of statute or administrative rule, but is exempt from statutes and rules applicable to a school, a school board, or a district. However, a charter school shall meet all applicable state and local health and safety requirements, length of school year Code provisions, civil and human rights laws, and laws relating to student transportation, special education, contracts with and discharge of teachers and administrators, and suspension and expulsion of a student. A charter school is subject to an annual financial audit, must be free of tuition and application fees to students between the ages of 5 and 21, and must be nonsectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations. A charter school must provide instruction for at least 180 days, or the equivalent number of total hours, and must also annually submit a comprehensive school improvement plan to the department.

ADMISSIONS. A charter school may limit admission to students who are within a particular range of age or grade level or on any other basis that would be legal if initiated by a school district. Enrollment priority shall be given to the siblings of students enrolled in a charter school. A charter school shall enroll an eligible resident student who submits a timely application unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building. In this case, students must be accepted for enrollment by lot. If the charter school enrolls an eligible nonresident student, the sending district must make payments to the charter school in the same manner required under the open enrollment law.

ADVISORY COUNCIL. The charter school application is required to specify the method for appointing or forming an advisory council for the charter school. The school board is to consult with the advisory council when deciding matters related to the operation of the school, including budgeting, curriculum, and operating procedures. Meetings of the advisory council are subject to the open meetings and open records laws.

STATE SCHOOL FOUNDATION AID. A charter school shall be considered a part of the school district in which it is located for purposes of state school foundation aid. The Act adds the "opening or closing of a pilot charter school" to the list of unusual circumstances a school district may experience that creates an unusual need for additional funds, and for which the School Budget Review Committee may grant supplemental aid to the district.

CONTRACT. An approved charter school application shall constitute an agreement, the terms of which shall, at a minimum, be the terms of a four-year enforceable, renewable contract between the school board and the state board.

EMPLOYMENT AND RELATED MATTERS. Charter school teachers and administrators must be licensed by the Board of Educational Examiners. Employees of a charter school are considered employees of the school district.

PROCEDURES FOR REVOCATION OR NONRENEWAL OF CONTRACT. The Act sets forth the conditions under which a contract for the establishment of a charter school may be revoked by the state board or the school board that established the charter school. The Act also specifies who must be notified and when notification must occur when a board considers revocation or nonrenewal of a charter school contract. Before the state board can take final action, it must conduct an informal hearing. Final action to revoke a contract must be in a manner least disruptive to students enrolled in the charter school. The decision of the state board to revoke a contract is final.

PROCEDURES AFTER REVOCATION — STUDENT ENROLLMENT. If a charter school contract is revoked, a nonresident student who attended the school, and any siblings of the student, are determined to have good cause under the open enrollment law and may submit an application to participate in open enrollment to another school district at any time.

REPORTS. A charter school must report at least annually to the school board, advisory council, and the state board the information required by the school board, advisory council, or the state board. The reports are public records. The Act also requires the state board to submit the following to the chairpersons and ranking members of the Senate and House standing committees on Education:

• A report identifying inconsistencies between federal and state rules and regulations relating to charter schools and any recommendations for legislative action.
• A comprehensive annual report, beginning not later than December 1, 2003, that evaluates the state’s charter school programs generally, including, but not limited to, an evaluation of whether the pilot programs are fulfilling their purposes. The report also shall contain, for each charter school, a copy of the charter school’s mission statement, attendance statistics and dropout rate, aggregate assessment test scores, projections of financial stability, the number and qualifications of teachers and administrators, and the number of and comments on supervisory visits by the department.

FUTURE REPEAL. The Act repeals the new Code chapter establishing the charter school pilot program effective July 1, 2010.

EXPEDITED APPLICATION PROCEDURE — EMERGENCY RULES. The Act grants the state board emergency rulemaking authority and requires the state board to develop an expedited charter school application procedure for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2003, for purposes of receiving federal planning funds that may be issued pursuant to the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Title X, Part C, as codified in 20 U.S.C. &#-167; 8061-8067.

SENATE FILE 2168 - University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Facilities — Issuance of Bonds Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Appropriations.

This Act authorizes the State Board of Regents to issue $100 million in bonds to construct, improve, remodel, repair, furnish, and equip inpatient and outpatient facilities and patient care facilities, including facilities for image-guided radiation therapy services and mechanical and other supporting facilities at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The bonds are authorized because the General Assembly finds that the university’s hospitals are inadequate to meet present and future demands for statewide specialty care, technology, and teaching services.

The board may increase the amount of bonds issued as needed to capitalize bond reserves and issuance costs. The Code provides that if the amount of bonds issued exceeds the actual costs, the difference shall be used to pay the principal and interest due on the bonds issued.

SENATE FILE 2228 - School Finance — Use of Physical Plant and Equipment Levy Moneys Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act relates to the authorized purposes for which revenue generated by the physical plant and equipment levy can be used. Current law provides that one of the authorized uses relates to the purchase of buildings, or the purchase of a single unit of equipment or a technology system exceeding $1,500 in value. The Act adds entering into a lease or lease-purchase agreement as an authorized use of levy revenue with respect to the acquisition of a single unit of equipment or technology, deletes the term "system" with reference to the acquisition of technology, and lowers the threshold from $1,500 to $500 regarding the dollar amount a purchase, lease, or lease-purchase of equipment or technology must exceed.

SENATE FILE 2258 - Board of Educational Examiners — Determinations of Licensee Qualification Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act strikes, repeals, transfers, and rewrites provisions of the Code relating to the Board of Educational Examiners’ authority to adopt rules to determine whether an applicant for licensure or renewal of licensure is qualified for the license sought.

The Code currently authorizes the board to consider the nature and seriousness of a founded abuse or crime committed by the applicant, the time elapsed since the founded abuse or crime was committed, the degree of rehabilitation that has since taken place, the likelihood that the person will commit the same abuse or crime again, and the number of founded abuses committed and criminal convictions by the person, in determining qualification for licensure. The Act also authorizes the board to consider these circumstances, but specifically lists certain crimes and offenses and requires the board to deny or revoke a license if the person seeking the license or renewal enters a plea of guilty to, or has been found guilty of, any of the offenses or crimes enumerated by the Act. The Act makes conforming changes to Code language relating to para-educator certificates.

SENATE FILE 2259 - Education Regulation and Funding — Miscellaneous Provisions Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act amends Code provisions administered by the Department of Education, including provisions related to participation by children in extracurricular activities, payment for postsecondary enrollment options costs for a student participating in open enrollment, agreements to provide for interscholastic activities for nonpublic school students, the date by which the department must release its school infrastructure program calculations, and the basis for Phase I payment calculations and the use of Phase III balances by school districts and area education agencies under the Educational Excellence Program.

Currently, the Code requires the State Board of Education to adopt rules to permit a child who does not meet residence requirements to participate immediately in extracurricular activities if the child is duly enrolled in a school, is otherwise eligible to participate, and meets the circumstances provided for in the Code. The Act expands these circumstances to include a circumstance in which a child is living with one of the child’s parents pursuant to a court-ordered decree or order of custody.

The Act amends the Postsecondary Enrollment Options Act to shift responsibility for the payment of the tuition reimbursement amount owed by a school district for a student who is enrolled under postsecondary enrollment options and who is also participating in open enrollment to the receiving district. However, if the child’s residency changes during the school year, tuition shall be paid by the district in which the child was enrolled on the third Friday in September.

The Act permits the authorities in charge of a nonpublic school to enter into an agreement with a school district or other nonpublic school to provide for the eligibility of its students in interscholastic activities provided by the school district or other nonpublic school.

The Act extends from July 1 to September 1 the date by which the department must annually release its school infrastructure program calculations for the purpose of providing grants to school districts under the program.

The Act also requires Phase I payments under the Educational Excellence Program to be based upon the prior year’s full-time equivalent teacher count, and permits school districts and area education agencies to retain their Phase III balances for use in succeeding school years for Phase III purposes.

SENATE FILE 2260 - Area Education Agencies — Reorganization or Dissolution Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act makes a number of changes to Code provisions relating to the reorganization or dissolution of area education agencies (AEAs).

Under the Act, reorganization plans submitted to the State Board of Education after the deadline of November 1 must be considered by the state board, but cannot take effect prior to July 1 after the next succeeding fiscal year.

Transfer to the new AEAs of the existing AEA board’s authority and responsibility to offer, continue, modify, or terminate employment contracts shall take place following state board approval of the reorganization plan. Current law transfers the authority on the third Tuesday of January prior to the school year in which the reorganization takes effect.

An AEA must notify the school districts within its boundaries, school districts and AEAs contiguous to its boundaries, and any other school district under contract with the AEA of the state board’s approval of its reorganization plan or dissolution proposal. Within 60 days of state board approval of a reorganization plan or dissolution proposal, a school district that wishes to join an AEA or be released from a contract with an AEA must file a petition with the AEA to that effect.

The Act also provides that, for the school year beginning on the effective date of an AEA reorganization, the special education support services cost per pupil shall be based upon the combined base year budgets for special education support services of the AEAs that reorganized to form the newly formed AEA, divided by the total of the weighted enrollment for special education support services in the reorganized AEA for the base year plus the allowable growth amount per pupil for special education support services for the budget year.

The Act additionally provides that the special education support cost per pupil, the media cost per pupil, and the educational services cost per pupil for a school district petitioning into an AEA shall, if the petition is approved, be that of the AEA into which it petitions.

Finally, unless an AEA reorganization takes effect less than two years before the taking of the next federal decennial census, the newly formed AEA must redraw its director district boundaries within one year of reorganizing if a petition filed by a school district to join or be released from a newly formed AEA was approved. Until the boundaries are redrawn, the newly formed AEA shall use the boundaries set forth in the approved reorganization plan.

The Act takes effect March 28, 2002.

SENATE FILE 2315 - School Finance — Allowable Growth, Area Education Agency Payments, and State Foundation Aid Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Appropriations.

This Act provides for the establishment of a revised state percent of growth amount for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2002. This figure was established at the rate of 4 percent during the 2001 Legislative Session and the Act reduces the rate to 1 percent. Senate File 2328 amends this Act to set the allowable growth amount for the budget year beginning July 1, 2003, at 2 percent.

The Act also provides that the state school foundation aid for area education agencies (AEAs) and the portion of the combined district cost calculated for these agencies for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 fiscal years shall be reduced by the Department of Management by $7.5 million. The amount of the reduction for each AEA shall equal the reduction that each agency previously experienced for the 2000-2001 fiscal year. The Act authorizes an AEA to exceed the amount otherwise authorized for special education support services payments pursuant to Code Section 257.35, within the limits of the total amount of funds provided to the AEA.

The Act further provides that although Code Section 257.16 provides a standing appropriation in an amount necessary to pay state foundation aid and supplementary aid each year, for FY 2002-2003, an appropriation of $1.784 billion will be provided, to be prorated based on budget enrollment if necessary.

The Act additionally appropriates $25 million of the funds appropriated from the Iowa Economic Energy Fund created in Code Section 8.55 to the Department of Management, and $20 million to the funds deposited in the Endowment for Iowa’s Health Account of the Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund, for FY 2002-2003, to pay that part of foundation aid which represents the allowable growth amounts for all school districts. The Act provides that an appropriation from the General Fund of the State which is supplanted by these appropriations shall be accordingly reduced.

The Act takes effect March 28, 2002.

SENATE FILE 2316 - Sale of Iowa State University of Science and Technology Dairy Research Farm — Use of Proceeds Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Appropriations.

This Act directs Iowa State University of Science and Technology, immediately after the effective date of the Act, to develop a plan to sell the university’s 1,100-acre Ankeny dairy breeding research farm and use the proceeds to establish a new dairy research and dairy teaching facility or for its Plant Sciences Institute. The plan must be submitted to the State Board of Regents for approval prior to its implementation.

As provided under the Act, the General Assembly finds and declares that although the 50-year-old facility has been very successful, its facilities have become outdated, the city of Ankeny has grown to surround the facility, and the dairy farm is inhibiting Ankeny’s future growth and contributing to the problem of urban sprawl.

The Act exempts the sale of the farmland and use of the proceeds from current Code provisions that require Executive Council approval prior to the acquisition or sale of property by a regents institution and which appropriate the proceeds from any sale to the State Board of Regents.

The state board must submit an annual report of the activities and costs of the sale of the property to the General Assembly and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau until all sales are complete and the proceeds expended, at which time the state board must submit a final report.

The Act takes effect May 2, 2002.

SENATE FILE 2323 - Registered Nurse Recruitment Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Appropriations.

This Act creates a Registered Nurse Recruitment Program administered by the College Student Aid Commission and comprised of a forgivable loan program, a tuition scholarship program, and a registered nurse loan repayment program. Under the Act, the commission pays a fee to the schools of nursing for administration of the program. The Act also creates a Registered Nurse Recruitment Revolving Fund administered by the commission for the deposit of payments made by program recipients and the proceeds from the sale of loans. Moneys in the fund can be used by the commission for purposes of the program.

The Act provides that a student who is enrolled at an accredited school of nursing located in the state and who agrees to practice in this state for a period of time to be determined by the commission is eligible for the loan forgiveness or a tuition scholarship. However, to be eligible for the forgivable loan program, the student must also be a resident of the state.

Under the loan repayment program, registered nurses who agree to practice in an eligible community in the state are eligible for loan repayment. A portion of the administrative fee paid to a school of nursing is based on the number of registered nurses the school recruits and places in communities that have agreed to provide additional funds for a registered nurse’s loan repayment. A student who receives a tuition scholarship is not eligible for the loan repayment program.

Students who received a forgivable loan or tuition scholarship, and registered nurses for whom loan repayments were made, who fail to satisfactorily continue in the school of nursing or who fail to complete the agreed upon time period of practice in the state or in the community must repay to the commission moneys received under the program. The program is not funded.

SENATE FILE 2328 - School Finance — Allowable Growth Full Text of Bill
By Iverson.

This Act sets the state percent of growth under the State School Foundation Program at 2 percent for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2003. The Act amends Code Section 257.8 as it was amended with the passage of S.F. 2315 (see Appropriations), which revised the state percent of growth for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2002, from 4 to 1 percent. The Act is applicable for computing state school foundation aid for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2003.

HOUSE FILE 2138 - Student Financial Aid Programs — Modification or Waiver of Requirements in National Emergency Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act authorizes the College Student Aid Commission to waive or modify, for individuals and entities specified in the Act, any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to state financial aid programs in the event of a national emergency declared by the President of the United States by reason of terrorist attack.

Under the Act, the waivers or modifications may be issued for "affected individuals," defined as individuals who are serving on active duty during the national emergency; or who reside or are employed in an area declared a disaster area by any federal, state or local official in connection with the national emergency; or who suffered direct economic hardship as a result of the national emergency. The commission may issue waivers or make modifications to ensure, with regard to affected individuals, that state student loan borrowers are not worsened in relation to those loans and that administrative requirements placed on state student loan borrowers are minimized to ease their burdens and avoid inadvertent technical violations or defaults. Calculations used to determine financial need for affected individuals or their families may be modified by the commission to reflect more accurately the financial condition of the affected individuals or the affected individuals’ families.

The Act also allows the commission to grant temporary relief from requirements rendered infeasible or unreasonable by the national emergency to postsecondary education institutions, eligible lenders, and other entities participating in the state student assistance programs located in, or whose operations are directly affected by, areas that are declared disaster areas by any federal, state or local official in connection with the national emergency.

The Act does not require the commission to exercise its authority on a case-by-case basis. The Act takes effect July 1, 2002, but applies on or after September 11, 2001.

HOUSE FILE 2139 - Vocational-Technical Tuition Grants — Maximum Amount Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act increases the maximum possible amount of a vocational-technical tuition grant to a qualified full-time student from $650 to $1,200. Only students enrolled in vocational-technical or career option programs at the community colleges of this state are eligible for the grant.

HOUSE FILE 2151 - Confidential Public Records — School Security or Emergency Preparedness Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act requires that information concerning security procedures or emergency preparedness information regarding a school corporation be kept confidential if disclosure could reasonably be expected to jeopardize student, staff or visitor safety. This provision is repealed effective June 30, 2007.

HOUSE FILE 2183 - School District Boards of Directors — Size and Method of Election Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act authorizes the board of directors of a school district, following a federal decennial census, to change the number of directors to either five or seven, or to change the method of election, by resolution after the board conducts a public hearing on the resolution.

If the board proposes to reduce the number of directors from seven to five, the resolution must include a plan for reducing the number of directors. If the board proposes to change the number of directors from five to seven, the two new directors will be added at the first regular election following adoption of the resolution.

If the board receives a petition within 28 days asking that an election be called to approve or disapprove the action of the board, the board must either rescind its action or submit the question to the voters at the next regular election.

The Act takes effect March 21, 2002.

HOUSE FILE 2394 - Community College Faculty Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act eliminates, effective July 1, 2003, licensure of community college faculty from the responsibilities of the Board of Educational Examiners.

The Act requires each community college administration to appoint a committee to develop a quality faculty plan, which must be submitted to and approved by the board of directors of the community college, then submitted to the Department of Education and implemented by July 1, 2003. The plan must include an implementation schedule, orientation procedures, continuing professional development, recordkeeping procedures and documentation, consortium arrangements, and activities that ensure instructional competencies and subject knowledge.

The Act also requires the department to conduct on-site visits at community colleges between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2006, to ensure that each community college is making progress in implementing its plan. The Act specifies the minimum standards for community college instructors and directs the State Board of Education to adopt the standards.

By July 1, 2006, the department must submit a report summarizing its findings to each community college and to the state team responsible for the accreditation of community colleges; the state accreditation teams must monitor the plans and incorporate standards developed with regard to the plan in the accreditation standards for community college programs; and the standards for faculty and professional development shall be the accreditation standards of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and those required under specific programs offered by the community college.

The Act also makes Code changes related to the elimination of community college practitioner licensure requirements. For example, community college instructors remain mandatory child abuse reporters and supplementary weighting for district-to-community-college sharing continues, though the Code language is amended to substitute the term "community college-employed instructors" for "community college-employed teachers." Community colleges may approve educational leave policies for instructors and may exchange personnel with other community colleges.

Provisions made inapplicable to community colleges under the Act include those relating to the conditions under which a school district can require an employee to accept an extracurricular contract for an additional school year, the good-faith efforts school districts make to fill coaching positions, and coaching authorizations and endorsements.

Any license issued to a community college instructor that is due to expire between July 1, 2002, and July 1, 2003, shall remain valid until July 1, 2003. This provision takes effect March 29, 2002.

The provision concerning the quality faculty plan takes effect July 1, 2002. Except as otherwise noted, the remaining provisions of the Act take effect July 1, 2003.

HOUSE FILE 2404 - School Finance — Weighting for Limited English Proficient Students Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act provides for an additional weighting of twenty-two hundredths for students identified as limited English proficient. The Act also deletes outdated provisions previously applicable to the calculation of the additional weighting.

HOUSE FILE 2454 - Character Education Programs Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act strikes language establishing a character education pilot program, but maintains much of the language encouraging schools to make every effort to stress character education qualities, such as caring, civic virtue and citizenship, and respect.

The Act directs the Department of Education to develop partnerships with schools, nonprofit organizations, an institution of higher education, or with a consortium of two or more of those entities, whenever possible, to design and implement character education programs that may be integrated into classroom instruction and may be carried out with other educational reforms.

The Act requires the department to report to the State Board of Education and to the General Assembly regarding the success of any character education initiative.

HOUSE FILE 2467 - Student Financial Aid Programs — Sanctions Against Licenses of Defaulters Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act provides for the imposition of sanctions by licensing boards against licensees who default on loan and scholarship program obligations. The Act provides that each licensing board subject to Code Chapter 272C, or any other licensing board or authority regulating a license authorized by the state, shall establish procedures for the suspension, denial or revocation of a license, or for the imposition of disciplinary action, with regard to a licensee who has defaulted on a repayment or service obligation under any federal or state educational loan or service-conditional scholarship program. The Act provides that each board shall defer to the federal or state program’s determination of default upon certification to the board by the program of a licensee’s default, and that the board shall remove a suspension, grant a license, or stay a revocation or other disciplinary action if the federal or state program certifies that the defaulting licensee has agreed to serve the licensee’s obligation, or is complying with an approved repayment plan. The Act also provides that the licensure sanctions shall be reinstated upon certification that a defaulting licensee has failed to comply with the repayment or service requirements.

HOUSE FILE 2475 - Security Interests in Education Loans Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act authorizes a tax-exempt organization that provides or acquires education loans to establish and perfect a security interest in the loans, thereby obtaining priority over other security interests. Priority will be established in a manner corresponding to federal provisions which provide for perfection of a security interest by the filing of notice of the security interest. The requirement of possession of the security interest, which would otherwise be applicable pursuant to the Uniform Commercial Code, shall not apply.

HOUSE FILE 2482 - Board of Educational Examiners — Licensee Disciplinary Investigations and Proceedings Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act provides the Board of Educational Examiners with the same authority to designate who may or shall initiate a licensee disciplinary investigation or proceeding, and who shall prosecute a licensee disciplinary proceeding and under what conditions, as the Code currently provides to all other licensing boards. However, the Act provides that in a case alleging failure of a practitioner to fulfill contractual obligations, the complainant, or the complainant’s designee, must represent the complainant in a disciplinary hearing.

HOUSE FILE 2515 - Education — Administration, Funding, Programming, and Services Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act amends Code sections relating to the duties and operation of the Department of Education, as follows:

Code Sections 256.3, 256.4 and 256.5A: Add a nonvoting, student member to the State Board of Education, appointed by the Governor to a one-year renewable term.

Code Section 256.7, subsection 21, paragraph "c": Requires school districts and accredited nonpublic schools to report as part of the comprehensive school improvement plan the number of students who enter ninth grade but do not graduate, and the number and percentage of students tested to determine student achievement levels. The state board is also required to develop and adopt uniform definitions consistent with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and any related federal regulations.

Code Section 256.9, new subsection 51: Requires the Director of the Department of Education to utilize, whenever possible, electronic transfer of funds when disbursing, transferring or receiving funds.

Code Section 256.10: Permits the director to employ professional staff for less than 12 months, but requires the director to employ such staff for at least nine months and to pay salaries comparable to other professional staff, adjusted for the time worked. The director must also provide comparable health and dental insurance benefits for these staffers for 12 months each year.

Code Section 256.11, subsection 10, unnumbered paragraph 3: Replaces a requirement that the department visit all accredited schools and school districts at least once every five years with a requirement that the department visit the schools and school districts as needed.

Code Section 256.34, Code Section 455A.19, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph 1, and new Code Section 455A.21: Repeal and transfer language creating a conservation education program board from a Code chapter administered by the Department of Education to a Code chapter administered by the Department of Natural Resources.

Code Section 257.11, subsection 2, paragraph "c," subparagraph (2): Doubles the amount of time during which a school district that was not participating in a whole grade sharing arrangement during the 2000-2001 budget year may begin receiving a whole grade sharing incentive, by providing that a school district which executes a whole grade sharing agreement beginning July 1, 2002, and adopts a resolution jointly with the other affected boards to study the question of undergoing a reorganization or dissolution to take effect on or before July 1, 2006, shall receive a weighting of 1/10 of the percentage of the pupil’s school day during which the pupil attends classes in another district, attends classes taught by a teacher jointly employed with another district, or attends classes taught by a teacher who is employed by another school district.

Code Section 257.14, subsection 2, and Code Section 257.14, subsection 3, unnumbered paragraph 3: Extend the time a school board has to adopt a resolution to receive a budget adjustment the district is eligible to receive if the Department of Management determines that the regular program district cost of the school district is less than the total of the regular program district cost plus any adjustment added for the base year for that school district. Currently, the school board must adopt the resolution and notify the department of its adoption, and of the amount of the budget adjustment to be received, by April 1. Under the Act, the school board has only to adopt the resolution by April 15. The Code language requiring notification by the same date is eliminated. These provisions take effect April 30, 2002, and apply retroactively for budget adjustment notification for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2002.

Code Section 257.16, new subsection 4: Requires that any across-the-board budget reductions to state foundation aid and supplementary aid made by the Governor must be distributed on a per pupil basis calculated with the weighted enrollment. New Code Section 257.50: Requires the director, upon receiving federal grant moneys under the federal 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant, to designate that a school district be the fiscal agent for an eligible local grant. However, if federal rules or regulations adopted relating to the grant are inconsistent with the Act, the department is directed to comply with the requirements of the federal rules or regulations.

Code Section 260C.5, subsection 6, and Code Section 260C.38, unnumbered paragraphs 1 and 3: Eliminate requirements that the director approve or disapprove sites and buildings to be acquired, erected or remodeled for use by community colleges, and approve lease agreements for community college buildings.

Code Section 260C.14, subsection 1, and Code Section 260C.47, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph 1: Make the director, rather than the state board, responsible for the approval of curriculum to be offered in a community college and for ensuring that all of the courses and programs are needed and that the curriculum, courses and programs do not duplicate programs provided by existing public or private facilities in the area.

Code Section 260C.70: Repeals this Code section requiring the board of directors of each community college to prepare and submit to the General Assembly, the Governor, and the department a proposed 10-year building program, including an estimate of the maximum amount of bonds the board expects to issue.

Code Section 275.23A: Extends until May 15 the latest date by which a school board must adopt a resolution, in the second year immediately following the year in which the federal decennial census is taken, describing the director district’s boundaries. The date under prior law was April 30. This provision takes effect April 30, 2002.

Code Section 282.18, subsections 2 through 6, 14, 16, and 18: Eliminate from the open enrollment law numerous provisions related to the authority granted by prior law to appeal the denial of a request to open enroll to the state board. However, the Act provides that a decision to deny an application involving repeated acts of harassment or serious health condition of the student that the resident district cannot adequately address is subject to appeal to the state board. The Act requires parents and guardians to notify, by January 1 of the preceding school year, both the district of residence and the receiving district of their intent to enroll a child in a district other than the district of residence. Under prior law, notification was only required for the district of residence. Language permitting a superintendent to approve an application is eliminated, as are certain notification requirements related to the sending and receiving districts. The Act exempts a pupil whose sibling is already participating in open enrollment from a provision that allows a district to deny a request if approval of the request would adversely affect the district’s implementation of a desegregation order or plan. If a district denies a request because of its affect on a desegregation order or plan, the Act permits appeal of the decision to the district court. Under the definition of "good cause," the Act adds "custody proceedings," and eliminates language that expanded the definition. An application for open enrollment may be granted at any time with the approval of both the resident and receiving districts.

Code Section 283A.2, subsection 2, paragraphs "a" through "c": Eliminate language that requires school districts to provide a school breakfast program and related language requiring a school district that wishes to provide school breakfasts at an alternative site to notify parents of the intent to develop an alternative site plan and to certify the plan to the department.

Code Section 285.3: Provides for a specific reimbursement rate of 13 percent to school districts for transportation of accredited nonpublic school students by their parents or guardians when transportation by school bus is impracticable or unavailable. Parents and guardians must submit a notice of nonpublic school attendance to the school district not later than December 1 for the first semester claim and May 1 for the second semester claim each year. The Act specifies the information the notice must contain.

Code Section 285.8: Establishes a fee for conducting school bus inspections and issuing school bus driver authorizations that must not exceed the budgeted cost for conducting inspections and administering authorizations.

Code Section 290.1: Amends current Code to permit only an affected pupil, or the pupil’s parent or guardian if the pupil is a minor, to appeal the decision or order of the board of directors of a school corporation to the state board. Under prior law, any person aggrieved by a decision or order of the board of directors of a school corporation could appeal the decision or order to the state board.

Code Section 297.7, subsection 1: Eliminates a provision requiring a school board to send a copy of school building construction plans to the building consultant in the department for review.

Code Sections 301.1, 301.29 and 301.30: Establish a formula for the distribution of any moneys appropriated by the General Assembly for textbooks for accredited nonpublic school pupils. The department must determine the amount available to a school district for the purchase of the textbooks based upon the proportion that the basic enrollment of a participating accredited nonpublic school bears to the sum of the basic enrollments of all participating accredited nonpublic schools in the state for the budget year. The Act directs accredited nonpublic schools to submit a written request on behalf of the school’s students and to certify their enrollments to the department by October 1 annually. The department must notify each school district of the amount available for use to purchase nonsectarian, nonreligious textbooks for the participating accredited nonpublic schools by October 15 annually. School districts must keep on file textbook expenditures made for accredited nonpublic schools. The Act repeals provisions that defined "nonpublic school" and established a procedure by which the department paid claims submitted by school districts for the costs of providing textbook services.

Code Section 321.178, subsection 1: Transfers the responsibilities for programming an approved driver education course from the Department of Education to the Department of Transportation. The Act also removes from the definition of "student" language relating to a requirement that the student reside in the school district, which is already required elsewhere in the Code section.

Code Section 321.375, subsection 1, paragraph "d": Replaces a requirement that a school bus driver have an annual physical examination and meet established physical fitness requirements with a requirement that the school bus driver possess a current certificate of qualification for operation of a commercial motor vehicle issued by a person authorized under federal and state law to perform physical examinations. This provision takes effect July 1, 2003.

Code Section 321.375, subsection 2, paragraph "c," and Code Section 321.376: Replace language relating to a school bus driver’s permit with language relating to an authorization to operate a school bus. The Act eliminates language authorizing the Department of Education to charge a fee for a permit, but places similar language in Code Chapter 285. The Act eliminates language requiring the department to submit an annual budget request in the amount of the fees collected for the issuance of permits, with the funds designated for establishing and conducting school bus driver instruction programs.

Code Section 321J.22, subsection 2, paragraph "d": Permits the Department of Education to establish reasonable fees for administrative expenses incurred in collecting, maintaining and forwarding to the court drinking driver course-related data.

Code Sections 714.18 and 714.22: Transfer, from the director of the department to the Secretary of State, duties relating to examining and monitoring the financial stability of every person, firm, association, or corporation maintaining or conducting in Iowa any course of classroom or correspondence instruction, or soliciting in Iowa the sale of such a course, including maintaining on file a continuous corporate surety bond to the State of Iowa in the sum of $50,000 conditioned for the faithful performance of all contracts and agreements with students made by such person, firm, association, or corporation, or their salespersons.

WHOLE GRADE SHARING AGREEMENT DEADLINE WAIVER. The Act permits the Department of Education to waive, until July 1, 2002, the deadline requirements of Code Sections 282.10 and 282.11, relating to the signing of a whole grade sharing agreement by the boards of two or more school districts involved in the agreement, and the public notice and hearing requirements, if one of the districts involved in the agreement has an enrollment of less than 200. This provision takes effect April 30, 2002.

HOUSE FILE 2549 - Primary and Secondary Education — Employee Standards, Career Development, Assessment, and Remuneration Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act makes a number of changes related to the Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program established in 2001 under Code Chapter 284.

PROGRAM PARTICIPATION. The Act requires school districts to participate in the program by July 1, 2002, one year earlier than required under prior law.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. The Act directs the State Board of Education to adopt rules establishing standards for school district and area education agency (AEA) career development programs and for individual teacher career development plans, and the model skill criteria for career development developed by the department. The Act requires the Director of the Department of Education to develop, in consultation with the Board of Educational Examiners, a transition plan for the implementation of new career development standards with regard to licensure renewal requirements. The plan must require that practitioners be allowed credit for career development completed prior to implementation of the career development standards.

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFICATION. The Act extends the time period during which teachers can be reimbursed by the state for registering for National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification from June 30, 2002, to June 30, 2005. The Act also extends from the year 2002, to the year 2005, the deadline for teachers to qualify for an annual award for achieving certification.

RETIREMENT INCENTIVES. Currently, the board of directors of a school district may offer an early retirement program to employees between the ages of 55 and 65, and may include in the district management levy an amount to pay a school district’s costs for the program. Under the Act, the school board may offer an early retirement program to any employee, regardless of age. However, the Act maintains the restriction that allows the district to include the costs of the program in the district management levy only if the program is limited to employees between the ages of 55 and 65. The Act eliminates language requiring employees participating in the program to apply for a retirement allowance under the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System or the school district’s pension and annuity retirement system, and replaces it with language that permits an employee to apply for a retirement allowance.

PRESCHOOL TEACHERS. The Act adds preschool teachers to the definition of "beginning teacher," the effect of which is to require that school districts and AEAs include preschool teachers in beginning teacher mentoring and induction programs and to permit school districts and AEAs to receive state assistance under the program for including preschool teachers in the two-year sequence of mentoring and induction activities. By July 1, 2002, each school district and AEA must report to the department the number of preschool employees employed by the district or AEA on the third Friday of September 2001.

BEGINNING TEACHER PROVISIONS. Currently, a beginning teacher’s licensure as a career teacher and the ability of a probationary beginning teacher to appeal a decision to an adjudicator or to the district court are both tied to the teacher’s successful completion of, or failure to successfully complete, a beginning teacher mentoring and induction program. Under the Act, these provisions are tied to the beginning and probationary beginning teacher’s ability to, or failure to, demonstrate competence in the Iowa teaching standards.

The Act makes AEAs eligible for state assistance for implementing beginning teacher mentoring and induction programs. A school district or AEA that employs a teacher from another state is eligible to receive state assistance for up to two years for the teacher’s participation in the program. A teacher who is participating in a program in one school district and leaves the district for another shall receive credit for participation from the school district that next employs the teacher.

DEFINITIONS. The Act amends and adds to the definitions in Code Chapter 284. The Act provides that a "comprehensive evaluation" means a summative evaluation of a beginning teacher for purposes of determining that teacher’s competency relative to the Iowa teaching standards. Currently, the term is applied to the summative evaluation of any teacher. The Act also strikes a provision requiring mentors to be employed as classroom teachers. New terms defined under the Act include "intensive assistance," which means the provision of organizational support and assistance to teachers for the remediation of identified teaching and classroom management concerns, and "performance review," which means a summative evaluation of a teacher other than a beginning teacher, used to determine whether the teacher’s practice meets school district expectations and the Iowa teaching standards, and whether the teacher’s practice meets district expectations for career advancement. Under the Act, performance reviews must take place at least once every three years.

SCHOOL DISTRICT STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS. By July 1, 2002, a school district’s standards and criteria must be, for purposes of comprehensively evaluating beginning teachers, the Iowa teaching standards and the model criteria developed by the department and set forth in an instrument provided by the department. By July 1, 2004, the Iowa teaching standards and the department’s model criteria will become the school district’s minimum standards and criteria for purposes of performance reviews for teachers other than beginning teachers.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING — GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES — ADJUDICATION. The comprehensive evaluation and the standards and criteria set forth in the instrument provided to school districts by the department are not subject to negotiations or grievance procedures. However, evaluation and grievance procedures not in conflict with Code Chapter 284 may be negotiated. The intensive assistance program and its implementation are not subject to negotiation or grievance procedures. An adjudicator selected to hear an appeal by a beginning teacher must have successfully completed training related to the Iowa teaching standards, the model criteria, and any additional training required by the Public Employment Relations Board in cooperation with the department.

CONTRACT DAYS. The Act modifies the requirement that participating school districts provide the equivalent of two or more additional contract days by the second year of participation in the program, to a requirement that the additional contract days be added by the fourth year of participation. However, the Act limits to two the additional days needed. School districts are encouraged to evaluate their current professional development alignment with their student achievement goals and research-based instructional strategies, and implement district career development plans.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN. A teacher’s evaluator, rather than the teacher’s supervisor as required under prior law, is responsible for working with the teacher to develop the teacher’s individual teacher career development plan, the purpose of which, under the Act, is to promote individual and group professional development. The evaluator must consult with the teacher’s supervisor in developing the plan and meet with the teacher annually to review the teacher’s progress. The supervisor must review, modify or accept modifications made to the plan.

INTENSIVE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. If a supervisor or evaluator determines that a teacher is not meeting district expectations under the Iowa teaching standards and model skill criteria, or any other standards or criteria established in a collective bargaining agreement, the teacher may be recommended for participation in an intensive assistance program, which the Act requires each school district to be prepared to offer by July 1, 2004.

CAREER PATH LEVELS. The Act maintains the General Assembly’s intent to establish and require the implementation of the career II and advanced career path levels, but eliminates the July 1, 2003, deadline.

PERFORMANCE REVIEW — EVALUATION REQUIREMENTS. The Act eliminates language in a Code section relating to evaluation requirements for career, career II, and advanced teachers and replaces it with language that provides performance review requirements for teachers. The review is to be conducted to assist teachers in making continuous improvement, document continued competence in the Iowa teaching standards, identify teachers in need of improvement, or for career advancement purposes. A teacher denied advancement to career II or advanced teacher level based upon a performance review may appeal the decision to an adjudicator, whose decision is final.

EVALUATOR TRAINING DEADLINES. The Act extends from July 1, 2002, to July 1, 2003, the date by which approved administrator preparation programs must incorporate the evaluator training program into their programs and the date by which the Board of Educational Examiners must require evaluator certification as a condition of issuing or renewing an administrator’s license. The Act extends from July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, the date by which the department’s director must develop and implement an evaluator training certification renewal program for administrators and other practitioners. The Act also extends the date for the repeal of Code Section 272.33, which relates to the current evaluator license administered by the Board of Educational Examiners, to July 1, 2003. The provision extending the date for the repeal of Code Section 272.33 takes effect May 6, 2002.

APPROPRIATIONS. The Act provides for the distribution of any moneys appropriated to the Department of Education for FY 2002-2003 for national board certification awards, the Beginning Teacher Mentoring and Induction Program, evaluator training programs, career development program and review panel purposes, and minimum teacher salary requirements. The Act makes an exception to current law regarding minimum teacher salaries to provide that the minimum salary amount a school district or AEA must pay to a first-year beginning teacher is the amount the district or AEA paid, or would have paid, a first-year beginning teacher in the 2001-2002 school year. The minimum career teacher salary paid to a career teacher who was a beginning teacher in the 2001-2002 school year must be $1,000 greater than the minimum amount paid to a first-year beginning teacher in FY 2001-2002, unless the minimum career salary paid by the district or AEA exceeds $30,000. The minimum career teacher salary paid for FY 2002-2003 must be the minimum career salary paid to a career teacher in FY 2001-2002. Senate File 2326 (see Appropriations) appropriated $7.75 million to the department for distribution to school districts and AEAs for purposes of meeting minimum teacher salary requirements. However, H.F. 2623 (see Appropriations) amends S.F. 2326 to increase the General Fund of the State appropriation to $16.1 million, and transfers to the department for purposes of the program, $8.9 million from the Underground Storage Tank Fund, $10 million from insurance tax revenues (contingent on the enactment of S.F. 2318 — see Taxation), and $5 million from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund, for a total of $40 million.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND TEACHER QUALITY — INCLUSION STUDY. The Act requires the department to conduct a study regarding the feasibility of expanding the program to include other individuals employed under a contract issued by school districts or AEAs. The department must submit its findings and recommendations in a report to the chairpersons and ranking members of the Senate and House standing committees on Education and the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education by December 15, 2003.

TEACHER CAREER PATH PILOT PROGRAM. The Act establishes legislative intent to create a statewide career path pilot program to be implemented in approved school districts during the 2003-2004 school year. The department is directed to submit its recommendations regarding the program to the Senate and House standing committees on Education and the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Education by December 15, 2002.

HOUSE FILE 2571 - Iowa Cultural Trust Full Text of Bill
By Committee on Education.

This Act creates an Iowa Cultural Trust, an Iowa Cultural Trust Fund, and an Iowa Cultural Trust Grant Account.

The Act states the General Assembly’s intent to establish a public trust, the income from which may be used to supplement the operating budgets of nonprofit cultural organizations that demonstrate a commitment to strategies to attain long-term financial stability and sustainability. However, no state moneys were appropriated for FY 2002-2003 by the General Assembly for this purpose.

In the first two years of the trust’s existence, the Act permits interest from any moneys in the trust fund to be used for a statewide educational program to promote participation in, and support of, local endowment building for Iowa nonprofit arts, history, and sciences and humanities organizations. In succeeding years, the interest must be used to issue grant moneys to qualified organizations. The Act defines a "qualified organization" as a tax-exempt, nonprofit organization whose primary mission is to promote the arts, history, or the sciences and humanities in Iowa.

The Act establishes the Iowa Cultural Trust as a public body corporate and creates an Iowa Cultural Trust Fund in the Office of the Treasurer of State. However, any moneys received for purposes of the trust fund may not be deposited into the trust fund until the Director of the Department of Cultural Affairs determines that qualified cultural organizations have demonstrated the required increase in local endowment and resource efforts and notifies the Treasurer of State of that fact. The sum of moneys deposited correlates to the increase in local effort demonstrated. The Act directs the Treasurer of State to transfer the interest accrued on moneys in the trust fund to the Iowa Cultural Trust Grant Account, which is also created in the Office of the Treasurer of State.

The Act creates the Board of Trustees of the Iowa Cultural Trust, locates the board within the Department of Cultural Affairs for administrative purposes, and gives the board general responsibility for the proper operation of the trust.

The director of the department is required to develop and implement a grant application process, develop and adopt by rule criteria for grant approval, and monitor the allocation and use of grant moneys by qualified organizations. The director must also compile a grantee list in consultation with the Iowa Arts Council and the State Historical Society of Iowa. The Act directs the board to approve or diapprove the grantee list recommended by the director, but prohibits the board from adding to the list.

The board consists of nine public voting and four ex officio, nonvoting members. Five of the voting members are public members appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The remaining four voting members are to be appointed by Senate and House of Representatives leaders.

SENATE FILE 2197 - Sex Offenders — Residency Restrictions — Child Care Facilities and Elementary or Secondary Schools
SEE CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & CORRECTIONS.
   This Act prohibits a convicted sex offender from residing within 2,000 feet of a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school, or child care facility.

SENATE FILE 2203 - Iowa Communications Network — Access by Homeland Security or Defense Facilities
SEE STATE GOVERNMENT.
   This Act provides that a homeland security or defense facility established by the Administrator of the Emergency Management Division of the Department of Public Defense, or the Governor, shall be regarded as a public agency for purposes of access to the Iowa Communications Network.

SENATE FILE 2273 - Juneteenth National Freedom Day
SEE STATE GOVERNMENT.
   This Act authorizes and requests the Governor to issue an annual proclamation designating the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth National Freedom Day and encourages all governmental entities, civic organizations, schools, and institutions of higher education in the state to observe this day commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery in the United States.

SENATE FILE 2275 - Substantive Code Corrections
SEE STATE GOVERNMENT.
   This Act contains statutory corrections that adjust language to reflect current practices, insert earlier omissions, delete redundancies and inaccuracies, delete temporary language, resolve inconsistencies and conflicts, update ongoing provisions, or remove ambiguities. Changes made in the area of education include substituting the word "treasurer" for the word "authority" in language relating to the Treasurer of State’s authority to receive and deposit moneys into the Vision Iowa Fund and the School Infrastructure Fund bond reserve funds; making a clarification relating to continuing education program attendance by optometrists; changing an approval procedure for undertaking and carrying out certain projects at regents institutions; adding a reference to student achievement rules language to a description of comprehensive school transformation activities; and adding licensed substance abuse treatment providers to language describing authorized providers of drinking driver courses.

SENATE FILE 2304 - Miscellaneous Appropriations, Reductions, Transfers, and Other Provisions
SEE APPROPRIATIONS.
   This Act makes, reduces and transfers appropriations for FY 2001-2002 and includes an appropriation from the Iowa Economic Emergency Fund for school aid allowable growth in lieu of a portion of the appropriation made by the General Fund of the State, exemptions from an across-the-board reduction for various education-related purposes, and a transfer to the General Fund of the State from an infrastructure appropriation made for construction of the livestock infectious disease isolation facility at Iowa State University. The Act takes effect March 1, 2002.

SENATE FILE 2305 - Tax Administration and Related Matters
SEE TAXATION.
   This Act amends various tax provisions to state law to add the adjective "nonprofit" to private educational institutions for purposes of the sales tax exemption for certain sales where the proceeds are used for or by an educational institution.

SENATE FILE 2326 - Appropriations — Miscellaneous Provisions, Reductions, Transfers, and Other Matters
SEE APPROPRIATIONS.
   This Act provides FY 2002-2003 appropriations from the General Fund of the State to the executive and judicial branches of state government, reduces or limits standing appropriations, and transfers appropriations. The Act is organized into divisions corresponding to the General Assembly’s joint appropriations subcommittees and, although a large portion of the Act was vetoed by the Governor, most education provisions were approved. These include annual appropriations and standing appropriations for the state’s education programs, including early childhood, K-12, community colleges, and institutions of higher education.

HOUSE FILE 2075 - Economic Emergency Funds — Transfer to Tobacco Settlement and Senior Living Trust Funds
SEE STATE GOVERNMENT.
   This Act directs the repayment from excess moneys in the Economic Emergency Fund of moneys transferred or appropriated from the Endowment for Iowa’s Health Account of the Tobacco Sett

HOUSE FILE 2150 - Military Honor Guard Services on Public Property
SEE STATE GOVERNMENT.
   This Act provides that members of the Iowa National Guard, the Reserve Forces of the United States, or a Reserve Officers Training Corps shall be allowed to perform any honor guard services on public property.

HOUSE FILE 2248 - Bill of Rights Day
SEE STATE GOVERNMENT.
   This Act authorizes and requests the Governor to issue annually a proclamation designating December 15 as "Bill of Rights Day," and to encourage a formal recitation of the Bill of Rights in its entirety in all schools, government meetings, and courtrooms on or about that date.

HOUSE FILE 2338 - Sex Offender Registration — Enrollment, Employment, or Vocation at Higher Education Institution
SEE CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE & COURT ADMINISTRATION.
   This Act relates to a person registering as a sex offender in a county where the person is a nonresident, if the person is a full-time or part-time student or is employed or engaged in a vocation at an institution of higher education.

HOUSE FILE 2395 - Support of Dependents — Calculation and Withholding — Medical and Educational Support
SEE HUMAN SERVICES.
   This Act makes changes in the law relating to child support, including those relating to postsecondary education subsidy provisions.

HOUSE FILE 2472 - Elections and Voter Registration
SEE ELECTIONS, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE.
   This Act makes a number of changes to the election laws of Iowa. The Act requires that the director district boundaries, if districts are drawn, of a newly formed or reorganized school district be drawn after the election making the changes; makes the candidate nomination petition requirement of new school districts the same as for established school districts; removes the question of approval of director district boundaries from the election or the question of whether a school district should change its method of electing directors; requires director or district boundaries be drawn or redrawn after the election approving the change in boundaries; requires approval of the new boundaries by the State Commissioner of Elections; provides a process for the transition from five school board members to seven and from seven school board members to five; allows the county commissioner to include with the summary of the question on the ballot a map showing the new school district boundaries of school districts to which portions of a dissolved district are to be attached if approved at the election; provides a process for attachment of territory received by a school district when an adjacent school district dissolves; makes the provisions of Code Section 275.37 relating to implementation of a change to increase the number of director districts applicable to all changes increasing the membership of school boards; requires that a school district with all of a city with a population of 15,000 or more located in the district must have seven directors on the board; provides that the deadline for submission of a resignation if the office is to appear on the ballot at the next regular school election is not later than 45 days before the election; requires that, within 10 days after receiving a petition for a bond election, the president of the school board call a meeting of the board to set an election date and that the meeting be held within 30 days of receipt of the petition; and provides that election costs for a school infrastructure sales tax shall be apportioned among the school districts in the county in the ratio of the number of registered voters in each school district residing in the county to the total number of registered voters in the county. The Act takes effect January 1, 2003, and applies to elections held on or after that date.

HOUSE FILE 2582 - Federal Block Grant Appropriations
SEE APPROPRIATIONS.
   This Act appropriates federal block grant and other nonstate moneys to state agencies for the federal fiscal year beginning October 1, 2002, and ending September 30, 2003, including funding made available to the state for a number of education programs.

HOUSE FILE 2587 - Energy and Environmental Research and Development — Iowa Energy Center — Alternative Energy Revolving Loan Program
SEE ENERGY & PUBLIC UTILITIES.
   This Act provides that the limit on salary expenditures for the Iowa Energy Center shall be adjusted annually according to the salary adjustment approved by the State Board of Regents for professional and scientific employees at Iowa State University of Science and Technology.

HOUSE FILE 2614 - Tobacco Settlement, Infrastructure, and Environment First Funds — Appropriations and Miscellaneous Related Changes
SEE APPROPRIATIONS.
   This Act makes appropriations to various departments and agencies for infrastructure and capital projects. The Act also appropriates funds to the State Board of Regents from moneys to be deposited in the Endowment for Iowa’s Health Account of the Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund from the wagering tax for tuition replacement.

HOUSE FILE 2622 - Tax Administration — Additional Related Matters
SEE TAXATION.
   This Act provides for the abatement of local sales and services tax for school infrastructure purposes owed or refund of such taxes paid as a result of the purchases by a foundry in Lee County or Jefferson County of items used in making patterns, molds or dies if the purchases occurred between July 1, 1997, and May 6, 2002.

HOUSE FILE 2623 - Compensation for Public Employees and Additional Provisions
SEE APPROPRIATIONS.
   This Act relates to compensation and benefits for public officials and employees, county mental health allowed growth, regulatory and other related matters of the state, and makes and reduces appropriations. The Act also reduces the total amount of Accelerated Career Education Program job credits from all employers during FY 2002-2003 from $6 million to $3 million, increases the FTEs for the State School for the Deaf, appropriates and transfers moneys to the Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program, increases an appropriation for community colleges, decreases appropriations to State Board of Regents universities, and reduces an additional amount from the standing appropriation under the Educational Excellence Program.

HOUSE FILE 2625 - Miscellaneous Appropriations, Reductions, Transfers, and Other Provisions — Fiscal Year 2001-2002 — SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SESSION
SEE APPROPRIATIONS.
   This Act addresses public funding provisions and related matters by making, transferring and reducing appropriations in order to balance the State General Fund budget for FY 2001-2002. The Act addresses the table of organization for employees under the State Board of Regents.