The second week of the 2024 Iowa legislative session has come to an end. Nearly 350 bills have already been filed and the House and Senate subcommittees moved several bills this week with some House committees passing legislation out of full committees for the first time on Thursday. While no bills have seen floor debate yet this year, the House adopted a resolution, HR 101 SUPPORTING ISRAEL, on Thursday morning. The resolution condemns the attacks by Hamas on October 7, and proclaims the support of Iowa for Israel. The sponsors of the resolution read the text, but legislators did not debate the resolution.
TikTok Lawsuit:
Attorney General Bird filed a lawsuit against the TikTok app on Wednesday in federal district court in Polk County. Bird said that the app misleads parents about the sexual content, and other inappropriate content, available to minors. In a statement she said:
TikTok has kept parents in the dark. It’s time we shine a light on TikTok for exposing young children to graphic materials such as sexual content, self-harm, illegal drug use, and worse. TikTok has sneaked past parental blocks by misrepresenting the severity of its content. But no longer. As a mom and prosecutor, I am committed to equipping parents with information to keep their kids safe and to holding TikTok accountable.
Area Education Agencies:
The Governor has made it a priority to reform Iowa’s AEA System this session. Here are her latest remarks on the issue:
If there’s an issue Iowans are most passionate about, it’s undoubtedly about our kids. As a grandmother of 11, ranging in age from pre-school to high school, I understand. There’s nothing more important than our children. It’s why so many of my policy priorities as governor have focused on building strong families and elevating education for every student. This year is no exception.
In fact, students are the very focus of my education policy this legislative session. Whether it’s raising teacher salaries or improving literacy, my priority is ensuring every child has the advantage of a quality education to help them reach their highest potential. That includes students with disabilities who receive special education services—and it’s why I’m proposing to reform Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs).
Fifty years ago, regional AEAs were created to serve children and students with disabilities. These services are critical. From early interventions for infants and toddlers to speech therapy for K-12 students, AEAs will continue to offer the guidance and reassurance families need and the support teachers rely on.
Over the years, AEAs have expanded well beyond the scope of special education, providing a wide array of other offerings for teachers, schools, and districts. These range from athletic coaching certification, cybersecurity, and classroom book sets, to providing graphic design and printing. In fact, only about one-third of the services AEAs list today are focused on supporting children with disabilities.
As the AEAs expanded their services, the outcomes of students with disabilities declined. Over the last 20 years, Iowa’s fourth grade students with disabilities have consistently performed below the national average when compared to students with disabilities in other states. In the last five years, fourth and eighth graders with disabilities have ranked 30th or lower on nine of 12 national reading and math assessments.
Despite consistently poor outcomes, under the current system schools are forced to send their state and federal money for special education services directly to the AEAs. Iowa is the only state in the nation that operates this way. If we don’t do something different, we can simply expect more of the same. That’s not good enough for our children, and it’s why I’m proposing a change.
Under my bill, AEAs will continue providing special education services as they do now, including Early ACCESS and Child Find. But state and federal special education funds will be controlled by Iowa’s public school districts. I’m also proposing schools get their share of AEA funding for education services.
With control of these funds, schools will determine what’s best for their students. If they like the services from their AEA, they can continue to use them exactly as they do today. Or they could choose to use the services of a neighboring AEA. They can also go outside the AEA system and partner with other districts to share services or contract with another accredited provider. Or they can spend more on special education teachers and put the funds right into the classroom. This legislation puts control in the hands of those who work directly with students every day.
And to ensure the AEA system is held accountable and results for students with disabilities improve, the Iowa Department of Education will provide meaningful oversight of special education.
AEAs play an important role in our state and that will continue. But their role should be entirely focused on students—not maintaining a system. We don’t need the AEAs to be all things. We need them to be one thing: the state’s premier provider of special education services.
The Governor’s Tax Legislation:
Governor Kim Reynolds unveiled a bold legislative proposal, HSB 543 & SSB 3038, seeking to enhance our income tax climate, provides property tax relief to childcare centers and cuts unemployment insurance taxes.
Details of the bill:
- In Tax Year 2024, there’s a flat individual income tax rate of 3.65% (which is retroactive to January 1). In Tax Year 2025, that rate becomes 3.5%.
- Childcare facilities will be recategorized as residential property through a property tax limitation.
- The maximum Unemployment Insurance tax rate will be lowered from 7% to 5.4% in all tax tables.
- The number of tax tables will be reduced from eight to four.
- The tax table rankings will drop from 21 to nine, effectively cutting overall tax categories from 168 to 36.
These unemployment tax changes are projected to save employers $800 million over five years. |
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