House File 202 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 202 BY H. MILLER , GASKILL , BEARINGER , HANSON , RUFF , WOLFE , ISENHART , KEARNS , DUNKEL , MUHLBAUER , and MURPHY A BILL FOR An Act establishing an agricultural education pilot project 1 for certain school districts and including effective date 2 provisions. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 1676HH (5) 85 je/sc

H.F. 202 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 256.24 Agricultural education pilot 1 project. 2 1. An agricultural education pilot project is established 3 to be administered by the department of education. 4 Participating school districts shall include all of the 5 following as part of their education programs under section 6 256.11, for either grades one through six or grades seven and 7 eight: 8 a. The school district’s social studies curriculum shall 9 include the history of agriculture in Iowa and awareness of 10 the global and technological importance of agriculture and 11 conservation. 12 b. The school district’s science curriculum shall include 13 environment and natural resources, land stewardship, and 14 biofuels and renewable energy. 15 2. For purposes of this section, “participating school 16 district” means a school district with an enrollment of at 17 least nine thousand students in grades kindergarten through 18 twelve, which contains at least two high schools, and which 19 is identified as a district in need of assistance under the 20 federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110. 21 3. The department shall conduct a survey to evaluate the 22 effectiveness of the pilot project. The department shall 23 provide the survey to superintendents of participating school 24 districts, teachers responsible for meeting the curriculum 25 requirements of subsection 1, students subject to the 26 curriculum requirements of subsection 1, and the parents of 27 students subject to the curriculum requirements of subsection 28 1. 29 4. The department shall submit a report on the agricultural 30 education pilot project to the governor and the general 31 assembly by January 15, 2016. The report shall include the 32 results of the survey conducted pursuant to subsection 3, 33 a recommendation as to whether the pilot project should be 34 continued or expanded, and any recommendations for changes to 35 -1- LSB 1676HH (5) 85 je/sc 1/ 3

H.F. 202 the pilot project. 1 5. This section is repealed on June 30, 2017. 2 Sec. 2. STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED. In accordance 3 with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring 4 compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall 5 be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid 6 received by the school district under section 257.16. This 7 specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed 8 to meet all of the state funding-related requirements of 9 section 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding 10 shall be necessary for the full implementation of this Act 11 by and enforcement of this Act against all affected school 12 districts. 13 Sec. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect July 1, 2014. 14 EXPLANATION 15 This bill establishes an agricultural education pilot 16 project to be administered by the department of education. 17 The bill requires participating school districts to include 18 additional subjects as part of their education programs under 19 Code section 256.11, for either grades one through six or 20 grades seven and eight. A participating school district must 21 include the history of agriculture in Iowa and awareness of 22 the global and technological importance of agriculture and 23 conservation in its social studies curriculum. A participating 24 school district must also include environment and natural 25 resources, land stewardship, and biofuels and renewable energy 26 in its science curriculum. 27 The bill defines “participating school district” as a school 28 district with an enrollment of at least 9,000 students in 29 grades kindergarten through 12, which contains at least two 30 high schools, and which is identified as a district in need of 31 assistance under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 32 Pub. L. No. 107-110. 33 The bill requires the department of education to conduct a 34 survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot project. The 35 -2- LSB 1676HH (5) 85 je/sc 2/ 3

H.F. 202 survey will be provided to superintendents of participating 1 school districts, teachers responsible for meeting the 2 additional curriculum requirements, students subject to the 3 additional curriculum requirements, and the parents of students 4 subject to the additional curriculum requirements. 5 The department must submit a report on the agricultural 6 education pilot project to the governor and the general 7 assembly by January 15, 2016. The report must include 8 the results of the survey, a recommendation as to whether 9 the pilot project should be continued or expanded, and any 10 recommendations for changes to the pilot project. 11 The agricultural education pilot project is repealed on June 12 30, 2017. 13 The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code 14 section 25B.3. The bill requires that the state cost of 15 any state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school 16 district from state school foundation aid received by the 17 school district under Code section 257.16. The specification 18 is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state mandate 19 funding-related requirements of Code section 25B.2. The 20 inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the 21 requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state 22 mandates included in the bill. 23 The bill takes effect July 1, 2014. 24 -3- LSB 1676HH (5) 85 je/sc 3/ 3