Meeting Public Comments

Heather Staton

This bill seems extremely segregational for students with special needs. Separating special education students is a disservice to all students. Special education students deserve normalcy and deserve to have social interactions with all students. Additionally, most school districts are already struggling with budgets for special education programs. This bill will not only further that struggle, but will also most likely not cover the cost of structuring separate educational centers.My daughter, who is now nineteen, was on an IEP most of her life. She struggled to keep up with other kids academically, but socially she was just like her peers. Separating someone like her from her peers would have been not only socially devastating, but would also have had massive academic repercussions. Kids DO better when they feel accepted and welcome.As a mom with two autistic kids, this bill is a terrifying step toward hiding special needs students away from society... Something we all know is wrong and did away with many years ago. Please do not continue down this path of implying there are children less deserving of education and social interractions with their peers.

Jenna Anthofer

I have many questions about this bill, but first and foremost I am curious where the money to establish these centers will come from? Our public schools are already underfunded and our teachers overworked and underpaid. If a school has to physically, literally build a new space or addition to accommodate these attendance centers, where will the funds come from?

Jody Zimple

Stop this craziness everyone is scared youre stealing from the US citizens to fill your own pockets, this is disgusting. These are human beings that youre going to deprive how unfair but I guess I can say Im not surprised youre stealing everything else The Mega Republicans have no heart. How do you sleep at night all of you? This is so disgusting.

Sam Wilson

Vote NO. Why are we not looking for ways to more thoroughly include students and empower teachers with smaller class sizes and more funding.

Brigitte Mohler

Special education kids should not be separated from their peers to the detriment of their already strapped funding. Do not let this move through. Public schools and special education need more support and funding.

Leila Staton

This bill is harmful to each and every student in our school systems. I do not support this bill and hope my representatives vote no.

Thomas Davis [retired taxpayer. ]

You might want to read the Americans With Disabilites Act to see if this is legal. The last I knew segregation based on disability, or color of skin, was not legal. Furthermore, the separation does not work, never has, never will. We had tried this before. Another good source, Senator Tom Hardin, who led the charge to pass the Americans With Diabilites Act. Leave special education programs alone. Next you will want to segregate schools based on race.

Jodie Schmidt

This is horrendous and absolutely should not be even in discussions. All children deserve to be served in the same school, segregation is degrading and inhumane. Fund public schools. Fund AEA and special ed services so all students can thrive.

Jill Heeren

As a special education teacher, this is appalling!

Jenn Mariman

Hello, my name is Jenn Mariman, I am a mother to two sons, one of whom, suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and is partially wheelchair bound, will eventually be fully bound. As you can assume, my son utilizes special education and most of all, the AEA. Since the initial cut to the AEA, we personally experienced accessibility issues to provide him with a para during a few lessons. Something that was once easy if needed, is now full of paperwork and hoops to jump through as of we don't already deal with enough.I understand the need for options and different learning environments for those with other special education needs and behavioral challenges, however, I am majorly concerned about the 48% of that cost being taken out of the school to fund this. As the bill reads, it states the "attendance centers" would be available to those who's challenges impede in their success in a regular environment, majority of those with disabilities and special education needs are able to be integrated with their peers and succeed in the environment with the services they were already recieving prior to the AEA cuts. I'm concerned this will cause a couple of issues: 1.) Even more resources are taken from those who are able to stay in the classroom and regular school environment, while still expecting them to meet all the same standards for graduation as other children. Expecting results while removing access to the things that help provide the results is counterintuitive. 2.) If we move 48% of that funding to new 'Attendance Centers' for those with behavioral or special education needs, I am concerned that what we will see happen is that the alreadystrippeddown AEA services will all be utilized in these attendance centers, making it so that schools may have more of an incentive to recommend disabled and special needs children to be put into these Attendance Centers because they don't have the resources at the school/in the classroom itself any longer, despite them being able to be stay and work in the traditional classroom setting and be with their peers. As an advocate, and mother of a disabled son, living this daily, it is imperative that, (unless determined that it is not beneficial for the child by the parents/guardians and educators, together) that we keep our childrens with disabilities together with their peers in a regular enviorment as much as possible, not only is this the beneficial ( in most cases) for our children, but it's important for other children to see and interact with our children, it helps them learn acceptance, understanding, and compassion for those who are different then them. Instead of taking away funding from the services that provide just that, we need to actually be provide them more support. I agree that some childrden need an option for a different learning enviorment, I've seen first hand the stress it has on parents knowing their child is not thriving in the regular enviorments, as well as the stress teatchers feek. There are not enough options for those with Autism and Behavior challenges. I think that is necessary to create an area for those that would better thrive in that type of environment, however, I feel there should be some more thought regarding how to fund this. We cannot continue to take away access from one group to try to balance another. They both have their own place and need in our community and should be funded as such.

Grace Rogers

AGAINST. This would be a terrible use of AEA money. That money is already spread thin and you want to take ALMOST HALF of it to segregate students, most of whom, lets face it, have a disability. Speaking of which, youd likely be breaking federal law in more ways that one. DO NOT PASS THIS BILL! It will hurt the children for whom you say you care so desperately.

Eternity Dunn

Hello, I am a mother to a child with developmental disabilities in the state of Iowa. When we moved to Iowa, we were met by a community that accepted my neurodivergent family. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for our local school district. During the 20242025 school year, my child was in the 2nd grade at Lincoln Elementary in the Mount Pleasant Community School District. He came to the district with an active IEP which was distributed to the school staff, along with accommodations to help him. The staff at Lincoln Elementary School should have read my sons IEP and implemented it from the beginning of the school year. Yet there are little to no documents regarding services that he must legally receive. Along with the lack of services provided for him, substitute staff at Lincoln Elementary applied 5 physical restraints from December 17th, 2024 until May 22nd, 2025. Each of the restraints were placed regarding behavioral outbursts, due to the neglect and lack of services provided from the school to my son. Each person that restrained my son was not a member of his care team. There were instances where the staff at Lincoln Elementary passed the legal 24 hour parent notification timeline, notifying me of a physical restraint that was applied to my child 26 hours after it happened. There were no debrief meetings after any of the restraints with Lincoln Elementary. Because of the direct neglect towards my child from the staff at Lincoln Elementary School, I was forced to dual enroll him, where he only received public instruction from 8:15am12:15pm. The only response from Lincoln Elementary and the school district as a whole, was to relieve the special education teacher of her duties. I worked with the DRI regarding this issue for over 10 months, leading to nothing being pushed forward due to the already loose laws that Iowa has regarding special education services. I am pleased to report that during the 20252026 school year, we have not had any physical restraints for my child. In our district, schools are split by grade, so he is now in the 3rd, 4th, 5th building. His new IEP and educational team are phenomenal and have worked with my son and I to make sure his needs are clearly outlined, along with his 1:1 adult assistance for his full time at school. I am telling you all of this to show how much help Iowa schools need with children with disabilities and special needs. Segregation and neglect will only further traumatize our most vulnerable children. Under IDEA and FAPE children with disabilities are entitled to a free and appropriate education, similar to their peers. What should be happening is an increase in funding to services provided for social education services in public schools. Appropriate additional funding to public schools to support special education staff and paraprofessionals. Please, dont segregate our children.

Erica Leavell

As a career educator and mother of a neurotypical child, I am deeply concerned at the prospect of students getting special education services at any level being removed from the larger student population. My gen ed students benefit from the opportunity to interact with ALL of their peers, and student with special needs would lose the opportunity to engage in the larger school community the pep rallies, the dances, the family nights. My own child has remarked several times on how much she enjoys interacting with a classmate who has Down Syndrome. Why would we take these mutually beneficial interactions away from kids? How is that fair to any of them?

Amber Hansen

This bill is harmful to all students. Having students with disabilities and increased needs among their peers is beneficial for all students and helps promote inclusivity and understanding. This will also put more financial strain on public education.

Darcy Dugan

This proposal is not a solution. Students and staff need additional support where they are now not to be sent to a completely separate location. Segregation is not an appropriate solution.

Angie Dudley

This bill would segregate special needs students from the general education population. It is a dangerous assumption that this is acceptable and necessary. All students should be given their right to FAPE and educated in the Least Restricted Environment they are guaranteed. Hiding our special needs children away in a separate segregated school is repeating history. Do not go backwards! We need to support our rural and urban school districts instead of placing more and more restrictions on them! Do not support this bill.

LuAnn Widen

Bad idea. Bad idea. Bad idea.Going backwards..

Kim Jensen

I have two children with Down Syndrome. Their peers at the school benefit from interacting with my kids as much as my kids benefit from interacting with them. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law ensuring children with disabilities (ages 021) receive a free appropriate public education (FAPE) tailored to their unique needs. It mandates special education and related services in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Originally passed in 1975, it guarantees rights to individualized instruction, parent participation, and procedural safeguards.

Teresa Wellman

A bill calling for a pilot program is ridiculous on its face when there is ample evidence that segregation of students is harmful. This country has spent decades integrating children with various special needs into mainstream classrooms and the results have been overwhelmingly positive. Why on earth would anyone propose such a bill?! This smacks of the eras of institutions and asylums and some other authority deciding who was special.Please dismiss this bill in subcommittee. Vote NO.

Molly Olds

This is a horrible idea, and would be a waste of taxpayer money in multiple ways as we already have data that separation or segregation of special needs has already been done in the past, and it proved to be ineffective.My uncle is blind. My brother is blind. My niece is visually impaired. My uncle is the product of a separate blind school education. He has lived off the government his entire life, now a resident in a nursing home. His social skills were limited; it made it hard for him to maintain relationships with others. My brother was in the same school as I was, had many of the same teachers, got to experience anything he wanted to as any other student in the building, adapted in ways that could assist him. He is now earning a better living than I am, and has a wife and 3 daughters of his own. My niece has attempted to attend a school specifically for the visually impaired, and all of her skills and education tests decreased, and they had to move her back to her original school. She is now almost caught up, and meeting the standards for her grade. We already have documented proof that separating special education does not benefit those with special needs. Furthermore, having special needs students in the classroom helps other children develop empathy and understanding for others. The social and educational benefits to being with a peer group are important and basic life skills. The stigma attached to separation hurst both sides of the equation. Why spend more money to separate students, when it can lead to lack of ability to be independent for many of those with special needs. My uncle who was separated from his siblings has ended up costing the taxpayers more money. This system would not help Iowa,but hurt it.

Molly Fitzsimmons

This is a horrible bill. Why would we want to go backwards in time. Segregating students doesn't benefit anyone. Whoever introduced this should be ashamed of themselves.

Wendy Tillgren

Special education services are severely underfunded as is. Segregation for students who need additional assistance is counterproductive for their social emotional and academic development. Providing adequate staffing levels and appropriate pay to the teachers and much needed special education associates and paraprofessionals in the schools to help these students succeed is where our money should be spent, not in segregation.

Kathleen McElligatt

I understand that the education bill HF 2003 hello kids HALF the funds to separate schools for students with disabilities. I was an educator for 39 years in the state of Iowa. I worked for over 5 years in a separate school for students with severe behavior disabilities. 99.5% of students with severe disabilities can be served in a public school setting with some access to regular education classes. The bill clearly is trying to change the narrative of integrating students with disabilities into regular education. This is no way in the students' best interest. Funding to establish special segregated schools will encourage districts to "dump" students who are difficult and require extra resources. At least 99.5% of education funds should be allocated to support general education and NO education funds should support private schools. The Republicans are trying to gut public schools. This is so very much against the best interest of Iowans.

Jessica Patterson

I am the parent of a firstgrade student with an IEP for educational and adaptive skills. My child has no behavioral issues and is thriving in an inclusive setting.HF2003 is deeply concerning because it conflates disability with behavioral challenges and promotes separate attendance centers rather than strengthening inclusive education. This approach risks removing students from the least restrictive environment, contrary to the intent of IDEA and decades of research showing inclusion benefits all students.Iowa should invest in staffing, training, and supports within neighborhood schools not parallel systems that remove children from their peers. Inclusion is a civil right, not an optional program.I urge lawmakers to reconsider or reject HF2003.