HF 2254 (LSB 5466YH (4) 90)

HOUSE FILE 2254

BY  GRASSLEY, COLLINS, HOLT, DUNWELL, THOMSON, JOHNSON, CARLSON, GUSTOFF, WILLS, and FISHER

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to student public school attendance, including by modifying provisions related to state aid payments to school districts and requiring the development of an attendance improvement plan when a student is chronically absent from school.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 257.17, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
   257.17  Aid reduction for early school starts.
   1.  State aid payments made pursuant to section 257.16 for a fiscal year shall be reduced by one one-hundred-eightieth for each day of that fiscal year for which the school district begins school before the earliest school start date specified in section 279.10, subsection 1. 
   2.  This section does Subsection 1 shall not apply to a school district attendance center that has received approval from the department of education under section 279.10, subsection 2, to maintain a year-round school calendar that commences classes in advance of the school start date established in section 279.10, subsection 1. The department of management shall prorate the reduction made pursuant to this section subsection 1 to account for an attendance center in a school district that is approved to maintain a year-round school calendar under section 279.10, subsection 2.
   3.  a.  State aid paid pursuant to section 257.16 for a fiscal year shall be reduced by the department of management in an amount equal to the product of the state cost per pupil for the budget year multiplied by the number of chronically absent students enrolled in the school district during the base year. The reduction made pursuant to this paragraph shall be divided between each monthly installment as evenly as possible.
   b.  Paragraph “a” shall not apply to school districts in which the total number of chronically absent students enrolled in the school district in the base year is less than twenty percent of the school district’s total enrollment.
   c.  For purposes of this subsection, “chronically absent student” means a student who was absent from school for at least ten percent of the school days in the base year for any reason.
    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  299.1C  Students who are chronically absent.
   1.  When a student who is enrolled in a public school was absent from school for at least ten percent of the school days in the prior school year for any reason, all of the following persons shall meet to discuss how to improve the student’s attendance, create an attendance improvement plan, and sign the attendance improvement plan:
   a.  The student’s parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian, if the student is not an emancipated minor.
   b.  The student, if the student is an emancipated minor.
   c.  A representative of the public school in which the student is enrolled.
   d.  A representative of the county attorney of a county in which the school district is located.
   2.  During the meeting described in subsection 1, the representative of the county attorney shall provide the student or the student’s parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian, as applicable, with information related to this state’s laws related to attendance requirements, penalties associated with violating the attendance requirements, and exceptions to the attendance requirements.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to student public school attendance, including by modifying provisions related to state aid payments to school districts and requiring the development of an attendance improvement plan when a student is chronically absent from school.
   The bill requires the department of management to reduce the state aid payments to school districts made pursuant to Code section 257.16 (state foundation aid appropriations) for a fiscal year in an amount equal to the product of the state cost per pupil for the budget year multiplied by the number of chronically absent students enrolled in the school district in the prior year. The bill provides that this reduction shall be divided between each monthly installment as evenly as possible. The bill provides that this reduction shall not apply to school districts in which the total number of chronically absent students enrolled in the school district in the prior year is less than 20 percent of the school district’s total enrollment. The bill defines “chronically absent student” as a student who is enrolled in a school district and who was absent from school for at least 10 percent of the school days in the prior school year for any reason.
   The bill provides that, when a student who is enrolled in a public school was absent from school for at least 10 percent of the school days in the prior school year for any reason, the student or the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian, as applicable, a representative of the public school, and a representative of the county attorney of a county in which the public school is located shall meet to discuss how to improve the student’s attendance, create an attendance improvement plan, and sign the attendance improvement plan. The bill requires that, during the meeting, the representative of the county attorney shall provide the student or the student’s parent, guardian, or custodian, as applicable, with information related to this state’s laws related to attendance requirements, penalties associated with violating the attendance requirements, and exceptions to the attendance requirements.