HF 810 (LSB 2174YH (6) 91)

HOUSE FILE 810

BY  RINKER

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to granting supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount for school districts with high open enrollments, and including effective date and applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 257.31, subsection 5, paragraph o, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   o.  (1)  The percentage of students enrolled in the school district as the result of open enrollment under section 282.18 is equal to or greater than forty-five percent of the total number of students enrolled in the school district. The committee shall not approve supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount that exceeds an amount equal to fifty percent of the product of the net change in the school district’s expected enrollment due to open enrollment multiplied by the sum of the following amounts:
   (a)  The difference between the district’s regular program district cost per pupil minus the regular program state cost per pupil.
   (b)  The teacher salary supplement district cost per pupil.
   (c)  (b)  The professional development supplement district cost per pupil.
   (d)  (c)  The early intervention supplement district cost per pupil.
   (2)  Prior to filing a request for supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount based on the grounds specified in this paragraph, the board of directors shall hold a public hearing on the issue and shall publish the notice of the time and place of the public hearing. Notice of the time and place of the public hearing shall be published not less than ten nor more than twenty days before the public hearing in a newspaper that is a newspaper of general circulation in the school district.
   (3)  A school district is not eligible for supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount under this paragraph if a majority of the students enrolled in the school district as the result of open enrollment are students receiving online instruction from a private provider under section 256.43, subsection 2.
   (4)  A school district is only eligible for supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount under this paragraph for the budget year beginning July 1, 2024 If a school district is granted a modified supplemental amount under this paragraph for a budget year beginning on or after July 1, 2025, the school district’s combined property tax rate per one thousand dollars for all school district levies for the succeeding budget year shall not exceed the combined property tax rate for all such levies for the budget year for which the modified supplemental amount was granted.
    Sec. 2.  REPEAL.  2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 45, is repealed.
    Sec. 3.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act, being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon enactment.
    Sec. 4.  APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies to school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2025.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   Code section 257.31(5) establishes circumstances under which the school budget review committee (committee) may grant supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount to a district. This bill modifies the calculations for supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount for such school districts under circumstances of high open enrollment into the district by striking the teacher salary supplement district cost per pupil from the amount.
   The bill strikes the limitation that specified a school district is only eligible for supplemental aid or a modified supplemental amount related to increasing open enrollment for the budget year beginning July 1, 2024.
   The bill also strikes a provision in 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1152, section 45, and moves the provision to Code section 257.31(5)(o) with modifications. The provision specifies that if a school district with high open enrollment into the district is granted a modified supplemental amount for a budget year beginning on or after July 1, 2025, the school district’s combined property tax rate for all school district levies for the succeeding budget year shall not exceed the combined property tax rate for all such levies for the budget year for which the modified supplemental amount was granted.
    The bill takes effect upon enactment and applies to school budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2025.