HF 2283 (LSB 5701YH (2) 89)

HOUSE FILE 2283

BY  STAED

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to school district funding for at-risk pupils and dropout prevention programs and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 257.11, subsection 4, Code 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  At-risk programs and alternative schools.
   a.  In order to provide additional funding to school districts for programs serving at-risk pupils, alternative program and alternative school pupils in secondary schools, and pupils identified as potential dropouts or returning dropouts as defined in section 257.39, a supplementary weighting plan for such pupils is adopted. A supplementary weighting of forty-eight ten-thousandths per pupil as specified in paragraph “b”, subparagraph (1), shall be assigned to the percentage of pupils in a school district enrolled in grades one through six, as reported by the school district on the basic educational data survey for the base year, who are eligible for free and reduced price meals under the federal National School Lunch Act and the federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. §1751-1785, multiplied by the budget enrollment in the school district; and a supplementary weighting of one hundred fifty-six one-hundred-thousandths per pupil as specified in paragraph “b”, subparagraph (2), shall be assigned to pupils included in the budget enrollment of the school district. Amounts received as supplementary weighting under this subsection shall be utilized by a school district to develop or maintain at-risk pupils’ programs, alternative programs and alternative school programs, and returning dropout and dropout prevention programs approved pursuant to section 257.40.
   b.  (1)  Notwithstanding paragraph “a”, a school district which received supplementary weighting for an alternative high school program for the school budget year beginning July 1, 1999, shall receive an amount of supplementary weighting for the next three The per pupil supplementary weighting under paragraph “a” assigned to each pupil who is eligible for free and reduced price meals for school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2021, is as follows:
   (1)  (a)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2000 2021, the greater of the amount of supplementary weighting determined pursuant to paragraph “a”, or sixty-five percent of the amount received for the budget year beginning July 1, 1999 six hundred forty-two one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (2)  (b)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2001 2022, the greater of the amount of supplementary weighting determined pursuant to paragraph “a”, or forty percent of the amount received for the budget year beginning July 1, 1999 seven hundred five one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (3)  (c)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2002 2023, and succeeding budget years, the amount of supplementary weighting determined pursuant to paragraph “a” seven hundred sixty-eight one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (d)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2024, and each succeeding budget year, eight hundred thirty one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (2)  The per pupil supplementary weighting under paragraph “a” assigned to each pupil in the budget enrollment of the school district for school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2021, is as follows:
   (a)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, two hundred four one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (b)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2022, two hundred twenty-four one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (c)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2023, two hundred forty-four one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   (d)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2024, two hundred sixty-four one-hundred-thousandths per pupil.
   c.  If a school district receives an amount pursuant to paragraph “b” which exceeds the amount the district would otherwise have received pursuant to paragraph “a”, the department of management shall annually determine the amount of the excess that would have been state aid and the amount that would have been property tax if the school district had generated that amount pursuant to paragraph “a”, and shall include the amounts in the state aid payments and property tax levies of school districts. The department of management shall recalculate the supplementary weighting amount received each year to reflect the amount of the reduction in funding from one budget year to the next pursuant to paragraph “b”, subparagraphs (1) through (3). It is the intent of the general assembly that when weights are recalculated under this subsection, the total amounts generated by each weight shall be approximately equal.
   d.  c.  Amounts that a school district receives as supplementary weighting pursuant to this subsection or as a modified supplemental amount received under section 257.41 may be used in the budget year for purposes of providing district-wide, building-wide, or grade-specific at-risk and dropout prevention programming targeted to pupils who are not deemed at risk.
   e.  d.  Notwithstanding paragraph “d” “c” and section 282.24, if a pupil has been determined by the school district to be likely to inflict self-harm or likely to harm another pupil and all of the following apply, the school district may use amounts received pursuant to paragraph “a” to pay the instructional costs necessary to address the pupil’s behavior during instructional time when those services are not otherwise provided to pupils who do not require special education and the costs exceed the costs of instruction of pupils in a regular curriculum:
   (1)  The pupil does not require special education.
   (2)  The pupil is not in a court-ordered placement under chapter 232 under the care and custody of the department of human services or juvenile court services.
   (3)  The pupil is not in the state training school pursuant to a court order entered under chapter 232 under the care and custody of the department of human services.
   (4)  The pupil is not placed in a facility licensed under chapter 135B, 135C, or 135H.
    Sec. 2.  Section 257.41, subsection 1, Code 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  Budget.  The budget of an adopted program for at-risk students, secondary students who attend alternative programs or alternative schools, or returning dropouts and dropout prevention for a school district, after subtracting funds received under section 257.11, subsection 4, paragraphs “a” through “c” and “b”, and from other sources for that purpose, including any previous carryover or amount designated from the school district’s flexibility account under section 298A.2, subsection 2, shall be funded annually on a basis of one-fourth or more from the district cost of the school district and up to three-fourths through establishment of a modified supplemental amount. Annually, the department of management shall establish a modified supplemental amount for each such school district equal to the difference between the approved budget for the program for that district and the sum of the amount funded from the district cost of the school district plus funds received under section 257.11, subsection 4, and from other sources for that purpose, including any previous carryover or amount designated from the school district’s flexibility account under section 298A.2, subsection 2.
    Sec. 3.  Section 257.41, subsection 2, paragraph e, Code 2022, is amended to read as follows:
   e.  Costs incurred for programs authorized under section 257.11, subsection 4, paragraph “d” “c”. 
    Sec. 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Under Code section 257.11(4), supplementary weighting is assigned to specified populations of pupils in order to provide additional funding to school districts for programs serving at-risk pupils, alternative program and alternative school pupils in secondary schools, and pupils identified as potential dropouts or returning dropouts. Separate supplementary weightings are assigned to pupils enrolled in grades one through six, who are eligible for free and reduced price meals under the federal National School Lunch Act and the federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, and to those pupils included in the school district’s budget enrollment. This bill modifies the supplementary weighting amounts assigned to each specified group of pupils.
   For school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2021, the bill specifies the supplementary weighting amounts for pupils eligible for free and reduced price meals as follows: (1) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, 0.00642 per pupil; (2) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2022, 0.00705 per pupil; (3) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2023, 0.00768 per pupil; and (4) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2024, and each succeeding budget year, 0.00830 per pupil.
   For school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2021, the bill specifies the supplementary weighting amounts for pupils who are part of the school district’s budget enrollment as follows: (1) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, 0.00204 per pupil; (2) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2022, 0.00224 per pupil; (3) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2023, 0.00244 per pupil; and (4) for the budget year beginning July 1, 2024, and each succeeding budget year, 0.00264 per pupil.
   The bill also strikes obsolete provisions and makes corresponding changes to other provisions of law.
   The bill takes effect upon enactment.