HOUSE FILE 88

BY  JORGENSEN

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to procedures for the implementation of interventions by school districts with attendance centers identified as persistently lowest-achieving schools.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  Section 256.9, subsection 61, paragraph b, Code 2011, is amended by striking the paragraph.
EXPLANATION
   This bill removes a provision that directs the director of the department of education to require a school district that has one or more attendance centers identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school to negotiate with the school district’s employee organization to reach a memorandum of understanding that contains an agreement regarding which of the four possible interventions the school district will implement as required by the U.S. department of education.
   Currently, the school district and the employee organization representing the school district’s teachers must meet at reasonable times to negotiate a memorandum of understanding that contains an agreement on the specific intervention to be implemented and a provision stating that the terms of any collective bargaining agreement between the parties shall remain in effect and unaltered except as specifically agreed to in the memorandum. If the parties are unable to reach an agreement within 45 days, they must select an impartial and disinterested person to serve as a mediator, who shall not compel the parties to agree. If mediation fails after 30 days, the school district shall not receive any federal school improvement funds for the attendance center identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school. The memorandum remains in effect for the period of time that an attendance center is identified as a persistently lowest-achieving school unless a duration period is included in the memorandum or the parties mutually agree to amend the memorandum.