House File 2783 H-8443 Amend the amendment, H-8439, to House File 2783, as follows: 1 1. Page 28, after line 18 by inserting: 2 < DIVISION ___ 3 SPECIAL EDUCATION WEIGHTING WORK GROUP 4 Sec. ___. SPECIAL EDUCATION WEIGHTING WORK GROUP. 5 1. School funding in Iowa has not evolved as the 6 demographics of Iowa students have changed significantly, with 7 little attention paid to supporting the special education needs 8 of students. In order to meet the needs of such students and 9 to ensure access to special education across school districts, 10 the special education weighting work group shall review the 11 special education weighting plan under section 256B.9, which 12 has not been altered since 2004, and shall consider all of the 13 following: 14 a. How to increase special education weightings in a way 15 that both meets the needs of students and minimizes the need 16 for school districts to increase property taxes. 17 b. The standards associated with each special education 18 weighting. 19 c. Best practices in the United States related to funding 20 special education. 21 2. The school finance review committee met on December 22 16, 2024, and received a memo from the school budget review 23 committee that discussed how a review of special education 24 funding should be conducted. 25 3. The director of the department of education shall 26 establish and appoint members to a work group to make 27 recommendations to modify the special education weighting plan. 28 The department of education shall work cooperatively to provide 29 staffing assistance for the work group. The work group shall 30 be composed of at least all of the following: 31 a. One member representing the Iowa association of school 32 boards. 33 b. One member representing the area education agencies. 34 c. One member representing the Iowa state education 35 -1- H 8439.4398 (1) 91 jda/jh 1/ 3 #1.
association. 1 d. One member representing the school administrators of 2 Iowa. 3 e. One member representing the urban education network of 4 Iowa. 5 f. One member representing the rural school advocates of 6 Iowa. 7 g. One member representing the professional educators of 8 Iowa. 9 h. One representative of the school district with the 10 highest basic enrollment under section 257.6 for the school 11 budget year beginning July 1, 2025. 12 i. One representative of a school district with a basic 13 enrollment under section 257.6 for the school budget year 14 beginning July 1, 2025, that is ranked in the highest one-third 15 among all school districts in the state. 16 j. One representative of a school district with a basic 17 enrollment under section 257.6 for the school budget year 18 beginning July 1, 2025, that is ranked in the middle one-third 19 among all school districts in the state. 20 k. One representative of a school district with a basic 21 enrollment under section 257.6 for the school budget year 22 beginning July 1, 2025, that is ranked in the lowest one-third 23 among all school districts in the state. 24 l. One representative of a school district located in whole 25 or in part less than one hundred miles from the eastern border 26 of this state. 27 m. One representative of a school district located in whole 28 or in part more than one hundred miles from both the eastern 29 border of this state and the western border of this state. 30 n. One representative of a school district located in whole 31 or in part less than one hundred miles from the western border 32 of this state. 33 o. Four ex officio, nonvoting legislative members 34 consisting of the following: 35 -2- H 8439.4398 (1) 91 jda/jh 2/ 3
(1) Two state senators, one appointed by the majority leader 1 of the senate and one appointed by the minority leader of the 2 senate. 3 (2) Two state representatives, one appointed by the speaker 4 and one appointed by the minority leader of the house of 5 representatives. 6 4. By January 4, 2027, the work group shall submit 7 recommendations to the general assembly and the governor for 8 adjustments to the special education weightings. > 9 2. By renumbering as necessary. 10 ______________________________ MATSON of Polk -3- H 8439.4398 (1) 91 jda/jh 3/ 3 #4. #2.