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Capitol Update - March 16, 2023

Capitol Update Reports
 / 16 March 2023 / 0 Comments / jen@iowaschool…

UEN Legislative Update
March 16, 2023

Download the March 16, 2023 UEN Weekly Report

This UEN Weekly Report from the 2023 Legislative Session includes:

  • SF 251 Admin Expenditure Limit Passed in the Senate
  • Unfunded Mandates Approved in the House
  • Other Bills Approved by a Chamber
  • Committee and Subcommittee Action
  • Advocacy Action: Keep momentum on PK and Poverty. Advocacy to improve a few bills.
  • Links to Advocacy Resources
  • Members of Important Committees

 

SF 251 Limit on Admin Expenses Passes the Senate:

SF 251 Limitation on School Administrative Expenditures: limits school district administrative expenditures to no more than 5% and requires the DE to implement via administrative rules, defining administrative expenditures to mean expenditures for school district purposes or activities that do not directly relate to student instruction or to the activity of students, but instead support the program delivery and development activities including but not limited to salaries for administrators and office staff, school administration, general administration, and data processing and collection services. Current law has a 5% limit on executive administration, which is a much narrower definition. (Formerly SF 12.) The requirement is effective for school years beginning on and after July 1, 2024. The bill was amended to limit administrative expenditures to districts with greater than 1,000 students based on budget enrollment. This bill was in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, but was reassigned to the Senate Debate Calendar for debate on Wednesday of this week. The Senate approved it 36:12. UEN is opposed.

Watch your inbox for Call to Action with background, talking points and advocacy actions.

 

Unfunded Mandates Approved in the House:

HF 608 Seizure Plans and Training: Requires school districts and nonpublic schools to have individual confidential health plans and seizure action plans as needed for students. Requires training for all school personnel in how to recognize the signs and symptoms of seizures and the appropriate steps for seizure first aid on or before Dec. 31, 2025 and biennially thereafter. Requires at least one school employee at each school meet the training requirements necessary to administer or assist with self-administration of medication, and allows the presence of a full-time school nurse in the school to meet this requirement. Requires written parent permission annually to allow the trained individual to administer medications. Requires the DE to develop training consistent with standards from the Epilepsy Foundation of America or a successor organization. Grants liability for employees acting in good faith to assist a student with a seizure disorder. Approved in the House 96:1, sending it to the Senate. The bill is assigned to the Senate Education Committee. UEN is opposed.

HF 610 Excused Absences for Autism Services: requires school board attendance policies to include excusing the absence of a student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to attend an appointment of a health care provider, to receive services recognized to assist such students including applied behavioral analysis, speech therapy and occupational therapy, and for time to travel to appointments to receive these services. Approved in the House 97:0, sending it to the Senate. The bill is assigned to the Senate Education Committee. UEN is opposed.

 

Other Floor Work in the House and Senate:

SF 318 Registered Apprenticeship Act: establishes the Iowa Office of Apprenticeship within the Department of Workforce Development. Defines terms for the registered apprenticeship program. Also establishes an Iowa Apprenticeship Advisory Council of nine members appointed by the Governor. Establishes the duties of the Office and the Council. Requires standards for registered apprenticeships that meet federal department of labor requirements. The bill was amended and approved by the Senate, 35:13, and is sent to the House Calendar, attached to companion HF 639. UEN is registered as undecided.

SF 507 Public Entity Contracts: prohibits public entities from having contracts with entities that boycott investments in the areas of fossil fuels or guns/munitions, and for contracts of $50,000 or more with a scrutinized company. Defines all of the terms and would apply to IPERS investments among other things. States legislative intent that “The General Assembly is deeply concerned over the increased prevalence based on social and environmental factors, known as environment, social and governance investing, rather than pecuniary factors. Therefore, the General Assembly intends to ensure that state funds and funds administered by the state, including public employment retirement funds, are protected from political influence detrimental to the financial health of the state and including public employment retirement funds, are protected from political influence detrimental to the financial health of the state and its citizens and promote the general assembly’s goal of protecting free enterprise. The bill was amended and approved 63:34 in the House, sending it back to the Senate. UEN is undecided.

HF 370 IASB Technical Clean-up and Modernization: addresses flexibility and deregulation, public notice, better utilizing technology, updates to outdated and duplicative language, corrected and updated school board duties and responsibilities, borrowing authority and SAVE code clean-up, and establishes a work group for health-related trainings. The bill was amended to allow members of AEA boards of directors to substitute teach and to clarify that the original uses of SAVE/State Penny for School Infrastructure would be clearly stated in the appropriate code section. Another amendment was approved to prohibit school districts from charging employees for background checks. Another amendment specifies that if a prior dropout returns to school and drops out again, the subsequent dropout action does not count against a school district’s performance profile. Approved 96:0 sending it to the Senate. Companion SF 390 is still in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. UEN is registered in support.

HF 622/SF 482 School Bathrooms: was amended to match the Senate bill, and then substituted SF 482 which was passed 57:39, sending it to the Governor. The bill requires school bathrooms to be used only according to the biological gender on a birth certificate. There are several exceptions. UEN opposes this bill, which may conflict with federal Title IX law and required accommodations.

HF 632 Cyber Security Funding Flexibility: authorizes the expenditure of funding from the secure an advanced vision for education (SAVE which is also known as the State Penny for School Infrastructure). The bill adds to the allowable uses of SAVE, the acquisition, development and improvement of school information systems to protect against a cybersecurity even. Defines “cybersecurity event” as an event resulting in unauthorized access to, or the disruption or misuse of, and information system or nonpublic information stored on an information system. The House passed the bill 96:0, sending it to the Senate. UEN is registered in support.

SF 398 Robotics Programs: requires DE to provide educational resources and technical assistance to school districts related to chartering CTE student organizations that include organizations related to robotics and robotics teams and competitions. Allows organizations that receive fees or dues from public and nonpublic schools to sponsor or administer interscholastic contests or competitions related to robotics. The bill was approved 48:0, sending it to the House. UEN is registered in support.

 

Subcommittee Action This Week:

SF 390 IASB School Matters: A bill for an act relating to entities supported in whole or in part by public moneys, including the sale of public bonds, the duties and responsibilities of the directors and officers of school boards, school districts, the department of education, the department of health and human services, accredited nonpublic schools, charter schools, community colleges, institutions under the control of the state board of regents, area education agencies, election commissioners and children’s residential facilities, and the membership and voting units of county and city conference boards. (Formerly SSB 1111.) This bill was approved by a subcommittee of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which recommended the bill move forward with amendment. UEN is registered in support. See HF 370 above for House action on the companion bill.

SF 392 Teacher Recruitment Omnibus: includes eligibility for grants under the Teach Iowa Scholar Program, teacher intern and CTE licenses issued by the BOEE, and the use of revenues from the district management levy for a teacher recruitment and retention program if not also used in the same year as an early retirement program. (Formerly SSB 1049.) A Subcommittee of the Senate Ways and Means Committee recommended the bill move forward with amendment. UEN is registered in support.

HF 323 Authority to Pay Student Teachers: authorizes school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and charter schools to pay stipends to student teachers. (Formerly HSB 111.) Approved by a subcommittee of the Senate Education Committee. UEN is registered in support.

HF 256 Minimum Licensure Age: allows the BOEE to issue a license to someone as young as 18 if all criteria for licensure have been met. The bill was considered by a subcommittee of the Senate Education Committee. UEN is registered in support.

HF 339 School Demolition Grant Program: creates a vacant school building demolition grant program and fund and makes appropriations (Formerly HF 153.) The bill was approved by a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. UEN is registered as undecided.

HF 355 Permanent Teacher License: eliminates the requirement of CEUs for licensure renewal associated with licenses issued by the BOEE to practitioners with master’s or doctoral degrees, allows districts to charge fees associated with the review of Iowa Abuse Registries, and background checks for employees of school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, and charter schools (Formerly HF 224.) The bill was approved by a Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. UEN is registered in support.

HF 559 Agriculture Grants: establishes an agriculture education grant program within the DE to pay the costs of up to 60 days of ag teacher time outside of the normal contract. The bill covers 100% of those costs for agriculture in the classroom programs less than 10 years old and 50% of the costs for older programs. Does not include an appropriation (which is expected in the Education Appropriations Subcommittee proposal if it moves forward). A subcommittee within the House Appropriations Committee met and unanimously recommended the bill move forward. UEN is registered in support.

 

Advocacy Actions This Week:

  • Ask Representatives to oppose SF 251 Administrative Expenditure Limitation.
    • The definition of administration in SF 251 is very broad and leaves the DE little discretion to align with accounting codes already required to be reported.
    • Every district would be out of compliance if the limitation is set at 5%.
    • Much of the growth in nonteaching positions since 1993 is due to mandates and requirements of state and federal government, changes in student needs and increased requirements for use of data systems.
    • Forced reduction of administrative and support staff would increase the workload of teachers.
    • See district-specific data on the FTE growth spreadsheet shared by Sen. Zaun and NCES data per district with their definition of administrative expenditures posted here: District Staffing Surge 1993 to 2021 and NCES Data 2019 by Admin Expenditures Percentage
    • See the March 17 Call to Action on SF 251 Administrative Expenditure Limitation, now in the House Education Committee.
  • Keep talking about Preschool and Poverty:
    • HF 297 PK Weighting: did not get out of House Education Committee, so it’s technically dead for this year, but could be included in an appropriations bill and will remain alive for the 2024 Session. This bill would provide a 1.0 weighting for 4-year-olds in PK from families below 200% of the federal poverty level. Don’t give up. Talk with your House members about the return on investment of quality PK, improved outcomes for students, parents able to join the workforce which helps employers and may free up childcare slots currently in short supply, and saves taxpayers money down the road (less special education, more high school graduation, more productive and less dependent adulthood). Find the UEN Issue Brief linked here: https://www.uen-ia.org/system/files/Public/IssueBriefs/UEN%20Issue%20Brief%20Preschool%202023.docx
    • HF 477 Poverty Study: this bill was introduced too late to have a subcommittee meeting before the funnel deadline. It has bi-partisan sponsorship (Reps. Siegrist, Mattson and Sorenson). The bill reintroduces the conversation that started with the 2019 Interim School Finance Committee, which received unanimous bi-partisan support at that time, to have Iowa study what other states do to meet the needs of students from low-income families, close the achievement gap, and fund those costs through the formula. Find the UEN Issue Brief linked here: https://www.uen-ia.org/system/files/Public/IssueBriefs/UEN%20Issue%20Brief%20Poverty%202023.docx
  • Advocate with your Reps and Sens to improve these bills. Key messages:
    • HF 430 Mandatory Reporters: Ask Senators to reinstate the makeup of the BOEE. It would be OK to add another parent or 2, but not the drastic change from the House which deleted licensed educators and added parents, to have 5 of each plus one school board member. The current board makeup is 12, including the DE director (or designee), 9 educators (of which 4 must be administrators) and 2 public members of which one must be a school board member.) The bill also strikes the requirement that the DE director serve on the BOEE, changing the total to 11 members. This bill is in the Senate Education Committee with a subcommittee of Senators Cournoyer, Donahue and Sinclair assigned.
    • HF 604 Ombudsman and Discipline Policy: this one-size-fits-all policy doesn’t recognize school differences or federal special education law. The bill mandates in school suspension of increasing length, but after the third classroom disturbance, requires the student be expelled from the classroom. This bill is on the House Calendar. Ask House members to require a school board policy on discipline, but do not require one specific approach.
  • Continue to Encourage good discussions on Flexibility: There are so many in the works; teacher recruitment and licensure flexibility, chapter 12 flexibility and efficiency, and bond language clean-up. Download the full UEN March 2 Weekly Report on Funnel Survivors for the many proposals that UEN supports.

 

Connecting with Legislators: To call and leave a message at the Statehouse during the legislative session, the House switchboard operator number is 515.281.3221 and the Senate switchboard operator number is 515.281.3371. You can ask if they are available or leave a message for them to call you back. You can also ask them what’s the best way to contact them during session. They may prefer email or text message or phone call based on their personal preferences.

Find biographical information about legislators gleaned from their election websites on the ISFIS site here: http://www.iowaschoolfinance.com/legislative_bios Learn about your new representatives and senators or find out something you don’t know about incumbents.

Find out who your legislators are through the interactive map or address search posted on the Legislative Website here: https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

 

UEN Advocacy Resources: Check out the UEN Website at www.uen-ia.org to find Advocacy Resources such as Issue Briefs, UEN Weekly Legislative Reports and video updates, UEN Calls to Action when immediate advocacy action is required, testimony presented to the State Board of Education, the DE or any legislative committee or public hearing, and links to fiscal information that may inform your work. The latest legislative actions from the Statehouse will be posted at: www.uen-ia.org/blogs-list. See the new 2023 UEN Advocacy Handbook, which is also available from the subscriber section of the UEN website.

 

Committee Members
House Education Committee Members
House Education Reform Members
Senate Education Committee Members
Senate Ways and Means Committee Members
House Ways and Means Committee Members

 

Contact us with any questions, feedback or suggestions to better prepare your advocacy work:

Margaret Buckton
UEN Executive Director/Legislative Analyst
margaret@iowaschoolfinance.com
515.201.3755 Cell

 

Thanks to our UEN Corporate Sponsors

Special thank you to your UEN Corporate Sponsors for their support of UEN programs and services. Find information about how these organizations may help your district on the Corporate Sponsor page of the UEN website at www.uen-ia.org/uen-sponsors

 

www.boardworkseducation.com

 

 

Capitol Update