HF 266 (LSB 1697YH (1) 89)

HOUSE FILE 266

BY  SMITH

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to school district and area education agency enrollments and school district weighting for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, and including effective date provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  BUDGET ENROLLMENTS, WEIGHTED ENROLLMENTS, AND ENROLLMENTS SERVED FOR SCHOOL BUDGET YEAR 2021-2022.
   1.  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if a school district’s budget enrollment otherwise determined under section 257.6, subsection 4, is less than the school district’s budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management shall, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, adjust the school district’s budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, to equal the budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. The adjusted budget enrollment figure shall be used to calculate all necessary funding amounts for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2021.
   2.  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if a school district’s additional enrollment because of special education otherwise determined under section 257.6, subsections 3 and 5, is less than the school district’s additional enrollment because of special education for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management shall, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, adjust the school district’s additional enrollment because of special education for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, to equal the additional enrollment because of special education for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. The adjusted additional enrollment because of special education figure shall be used to calculate all necessary funding amounts for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2021. 
   3.  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if a school district’s additional pupils added due to the application of the supplementary weighting otherwise determined under section 257.6, subsection 5, is less than the school district’s additional pupils added due to the application of the supplementary weighting for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management shall, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, adjust the school district’s additional pupils added due to the application of the supplementary weighting for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, to equal the additional pupils added due to the application of the supplementary weighting for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. The adjusted additional pupils added due to the application of the supplementary weighting figure shall be used to calculate all necessary funding amounts for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2021, and the proportions of supplementary weighting attributable to each supplementary weighting category shall be equal to the proportion of such weighting for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2020.
   4.  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if a school district’s preschool budget enrollment otherwise determined under section 256C.5 is less than the school district’s preschool budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management shall, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, adjust the school district’s preschool budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, to equal the preschool budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. The adjusted preschool budget enrollment figure shall be used to calculate all necessary preschool funding amounts for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2021. 
   5.  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if an area education agency’s enrollment served otherwise determined under section 257.37, subsection 4, is less than the area education agency’s enrollment served for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management shall, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, adjust the area education agency’s enrollment served for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, to equal the enrollment served for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. The adjusted enrollment served figure shall be used to calculate all necessary funding amounts for the school budget year beginning July 1, 2021.
    Sec. 2.  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.
   For purposes of calculating school district funding under Code chapter 257, a school district’s budget enrollment for a budget year is the basic enrollment for that budget year, which is equal to the school district’s actual enrollment (headcount) for the base year (preceding budget year). This bill provides that for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if a school district’s budget enrollment is less than the school district’s budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, is required to adjust the district’s budget enrollment to equal the budget enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. Similarly, for the budget year beginning July 1, 2021, if a school district’s additional enrollment because of special education, weighted enrollment added due to supplementary weighting, or preschool budget enrollment is less than the applicable corresponding amount for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020, the department of management is required to adjust the district’s additional enrollment because of special education, weighted enrollment added due to supplementary weighting, or preschool budget enrollment, as applicable, to equal the corresponding amount for the budget year beginning July 1, 2020. The bill also establishes a similar provision for the determination of an area education agency’s “enrollment served” under Code section 257.37.
   The bill takes effect upon enactment.