House File 591 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE
BY SCHULTZ, DEYOE, PETTENGILL,
ALONS, TYMESON, DE BOEF,
KAUFMANN, DRAKE, TJEPKES,
MAY, SWEENEY, and BAUDLER
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act providing for the establishment of a task force to study
2 the division of school districts with enrollments greater than
3 two thousand five hundred pupils.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
5 TLSB 2357YH 83
6 kh/rj/5
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION == TASK FORCE ON
1 2 OPTIMALLY SIZED SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
1 3 1. The department of education shall convene a task force
1 4 to study the advisability and practicability of dividing
1 5 school districts with enrollments of over two thousand five
1 6 hundred students to create optimally sized school districts to
1 7 improve student opportunity and achievement.
1 8 2. a. The director of the department of education shall
1 9 appoint members to the task force which shall include
1 10 education practitioners and stakeholders, including but not
1 11 limited to educational technology and school transportation
1 12 specialists, school business officials, and persons who
1 13 represent rural, urban, and suburban school districts
1 14 throughout Iowa; a professional with experience or expertise
1 15 in state and local taxation matters; and other stakeholders as
1 16 appropriate.
1 17 b. The task force shall select a chairperson from its
1 18 membership. A majority of the members of the task force shall
1 19 constitute a quorum.
1 20 3. The study shall include but not be limited to the
1 21 following:
1 22 a. A review of incentives intended to encourage large
1 23 school districts to divide to create optimally sized school
1 24 districts.
1 25 b. Determination of the costs and methods for implementing
1 26 the incentives identified.
1 27 c. A review of the barriers to dividing large school
1 28 districts to create optimally sized school districts,
1 29 including but not limited to athletic and community
1 30 identification and infrastructure deficits.
1 31 d. An analysis of the optimal school and school district
1 32 size, with consideration given to student transportation times
1 33 and costs, and where the boundaries of such optimally sized
1 34 school districts would be established on a proposed statewide
1 35 reorganization map.
2 1 e. An evaluation of the effect technology may have on
2 2 efforts to divide large school districts to create optimally
2 3 sized school districts.
2 4 f. An analysis of the trends that will affect the need for
2 5 and advisability of dividing large school districts to create
2 6 optimally sized school districts and sharing efforts over the
2 7 next five=year and ten=year time periods.
2 8 g. An analysis of the effect of dividing large school
2 9 districts to create optimally sized school districts on the
2 10 status of and federal funding to schools and school districts
2 11 under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L.
2 12 No. 107=110.
2 13 h. Identification of actions that may be taken by the
2 14 state, the department of education, area education agencies,
2 15 and stakeholders that have proven to assist large school
2 16 district efforts to divide into optimally sized school
2 17 districts.
2 18 4. The task force shall report its findings and
2 19 recommendations, including any recommendations for statutory
2 20 changes, to the state board of education and the general
2 21 assembly by January 15, 2010.
2 22 EXPLANATION
2 23 This bill directs the department of education to convene a
2 24 task force to study the advisability and practicability of
2 25 dividing school districts with enrollments of over 2,500
2 26 students to create optimally sized school districts to improve
2 27 student opportunity and achievement.
2 28 The director of the department is directed to appoint
2 29 members to the task force which shall include education
2 30 practitioners and stakeholders, including but not limited to
2 31 educational technology and school transportation specialists,
2 32 school business officials, and persons who represent rural,
2 33 urban, and suburban school districts throughout Iowa; a
2 34 professional with experience or expertise in state and local
2 35 taxation matters; and other stakeholders as appropriate.
3 1 The task force must submit its findings and recommendations
3 2 in a report to the state board of education and the general
3 3 assembly by January 15, 2010.
3 4 LSB 2357YH 83
3 5 kh/rj/5.1