DES MOINES, Iowa — Changes are coming to Iowa's Area Education Agencies (AEAs). After months of consideration in the Iowa House and Senate, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law Wednesday afternoon.
"I’m proud to sign legislation that further strengthens Iowa's commitment to students, parents, teachers, and schools," Reynolds said in a statement. "This bill will improve special education for students with disabilities and raise salaries for new and experienced teachers - two foundational pillars of a world class education system which is exactly what we strive to provide for every student in our state."
Under the new law, school districts are required to use at least 90% of special education funds to contract special education services from a local AEA, beginning on July 1, 2025. The remaining 10% of funds can be kept within the district.
In addition, beginning July 1, 2024, AEAs will receive only 40% of funds related to media and general education services, with school districts receiving 60% of those funds.
Beyond making changes to AEAs, the law will also increase teachers' salaries to $47,500 beginning July 1, 2024, and then to $50,000 a year later.
The final bill was a result of numerous debates, rewrites and amendments. Initially, the two chambers of the Iowa legislature moved forward with their own versions of the bill. Eventually, the Iowa Senate adopted the House's version -- only to completely rewrite the bill and send it back to the House.
From there, the House added a 49-page amendment to the bill, passing it 51-43. The Senate ultimately pushed the bill to Reynolds' desk with a 30-18 vote. Three Republicans sided with Democrats in voting "no" on the bill.
Reynolds first introduced the idea of reforming AEAs in her 2024 Condition of the State address.
Since then, the legislation has been the subject of controversy, with some teachers and AEA advocates saying the law will do more harm than good.
“Gov. Reynolds demanded an attack on Iowa’s Area Education Agencies that no one asked for and no one wanted. She bullied it through the Republican-led legislature, and today she signed it into law,” said Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum in a statement. “Every step of the way, Iowans told her to stop, to slow down, to engage stakeholders, and collaborate on real improvements to special education in Iowa. She never listened, and now parents and children will face the consequences.”
At the bill signing, Reynolds' was surrounded by Republican lawmakers who led the efforts to AEA reforms, also speaking about their experiences.
"I just think this is a great example of how our republic works," said Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Sioux. "We brought everybody to the table, all the stakeholders were brought to the table."
The bill initially faced criticism from Iowans who said there is no need for this. However, Reynolds' said, after 20 years of failure from the AEAs, this step is necessary.
"It hasn't been the experience for all students in schools," Reynolds said. "Some schools haven't used the AEA services despite being forced to pay for them, others have found that they didn't receive the quality they expect."
Democratic lawmakers completely disagree with Republicans and Reynolds.
"I know they've been working on it for a long time, a long time to solve a problem that doesn't exist, doesn't really fix the issue," said Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, D-Polk.
The changes go into effect July 1, 2024, and will be phased out over two years.
Schools will now be required to decide how they want to use the funding on some services and will have to adjust their overall budgets. School budgets were due on February 9, so schools may need to adjust their original budgets set because of these reforms.
Republican legislators say this education legislation will be "another win" for Iowa kids.
"We are improving on a system that will see increases and outcomes for our students," Wheeler said. "There are those opposing this that tend to oppose every effort we have made to improve education in our state."
Democratic legislators say this issue itself, will impact the upcoming November election.
"They know what happened last Thursday, they know this was rushed and Iowans know when they're getting the wool pulled over their eyes," Konfrst said.