March 28, 2014
School Per Pupil Funding Decision for FY 2016 Still in Limbo But
Education Appropriations Discussions Begin
Education
Budget Work in Progress
The Senate Education
Appropriations Subcommittee held a meeting on Thursday, March 27 and approved
the line-item budget for FY 2015 education appropriations. The
Subcommittee approved a total of $986.1 million, which is $87.2 million above
FY 2014 and $111,830 above the Governor’s Recommendation.
During the subcommittee
discussion, Sen. Schoenjahn expressed his thanks for the close bi-partisan work
and leadership from Rep. Dolecheck in preparing this budget. He stated they were in agreement of over 90%
of line items. Sen. Quirmbach expressed
disappointment that the $10 million anticipated for High Needs Schools Grants
included in last year’s HF 215, Education Reform, was not included in the
Governor’s budget recommendation. He
acknowledged the difficulty of finding cuts within the existing budget large
enough for the grants to be included in this year’s appropriations bill. He also stated disappointment that the
per-pupil funding decision for FY 2016 had not yet been acted upon in the
House, although that discussion is not part of the FY 2015 education
budget.
Common Core Funding: Also
noteworthy in this budget is the elimination of the line item appropriation for
the Common Core. Budget staff confirmed
the funding was rolled into the DE administration budget. We anticipate seeing language in the bill
next week that maintains the DE responsibility for supporting implementation of
the Core.
Reading Research Center: In
FY 2014, the Center was funded at $1,331,000.
The DE originally requested $2.0 million in funding for the Center,
which would be an increase of $669,000.
The Governor’s recommendation was $3,931,000 to include funding to scale
up provision of free assessment tools for screening of reading in early
elementary (FAST assessments.) For those
districts planning on training teachers this summer and implementing the FAST
screening assessments this fall, this difference in appropriation may be
significant and worthy of contacting your legislators.
Bullying Prevention: the
Senate includes a new appropriation of $1,000,000 to fund bullying prevention
efforts including funding for DE to analyze data and provide supports to
districts and grant resources to support district training efforts to improve
culture and climate/bullying prevention.
The conversation on anti-bullying legislation has not moved forward in
the House.
Administrator Mentoring: The
Senate includes a new appropriation of $1,000,000 for principal and
administrator coaching and mentoring. We
anticipate the policy language will be similar to proposals seen earlier in the
session to support and develop administrator instructional leadership skills.
AEA Support for Teacher Leadership:
The Senate includes a new appropriation of $1,000,000 for AEA support of
the first round of TLC grants awarded to 39 districts to begin participation in
the program for FY 2015.
Specific appropriations of
interest to PK-12 include:
Estimated
|
Dept Request
|
Gov Rec
|
Senate
|
Senate
Co-Chair
|
|
FY 2014
|
FY 2015
|
FY 2015
|
Co-Chair
|
vs. FY14
|
|
Teacher Shortage Loan Forgiveness
|
$ 392,452
|
$ 392,452
|
$ 392,452
|
$ 392,452
|
|
Teach
Iowa Scholars
|
0
|
0
|
2,300,000
|
1,300,000
|
1,300,000
|
DE Administration
|
6,304,047
|
7,692,747
|
6,304,047
|
7,304,047
|
1,000,000
|
Vocational Education Administration
|
598,197
|
598,197
|
598,197
|
598,197
|
|
Vocational Education Secondary
|
2,630,134
|
2,630,134
|
2,630,134
|
2,630,134
|
|
Food
Service
|
2,176,797
|
2,176,797
|
2,176,797
|
2,176,797
|
|
ECI
(Early Childhood Iowa) General Aid
|
5,386,113
|
5,386,113
|
5,386,113
|
5,386,113
|
|
ECI Preschool
Tuition Assistance
|
5,428,877
|
5,428,877
|
5,428,877
|
5,428,877
|
|
ECI Family
Support and Parent Ed
|
12,364,434
|
12,364,434
|
12,364,434
|
12,364,434
|
|
Special Ed. Services Birth to 3
|
1,721,400
|
1,721,400
|
1,721,400
|
1,721,400
|
|
Nonpublic Textbook Services
|
600,214
|
600,214
|
600,214
|
650,214
|
50,000
|
Iowa
Core
|
1,000,000
|
2,000,000
|
1,000,000
|
0
|
-1,000,000
|
Student Achievement/Teacher Quality
|
6,307,351
|
6,800,000
|
6,307,351
|
56,791,351
|
50,484,000
|
Jobs
For America's Grads
|
670,000
|
670,000
|
670,000
|
700,000
|
30,000
|
Education Reform
|
6,840,000
|
72,000,000
|
57,100,000
|
0
|
-6,840,000
|
Iowa
Reading Research Center
|
1,331,000
|
2,000,000
|
3,931,000
|
2,000,000
|
669,000
|
Midwestern Higher Education Compact
|
100,000
|
100,000
|
100,000
|
100,000
|
|
Early
Head Start Projects
|
400,000
|
400,000
|
400,000
|
600,000
|
200,000
|
Successful Progression for Early Readers
|
8,000,000
|
18,200,000
|
8,000,000
|
8,000,000
|
|
Competency-Based Education
|
425,000
|
425,000
|
425,000
|
425,000
|
|
Iowa
Learning Online Initiative
|
0
|
1,500,000
|
0
|
1,500,000
|
1,500,000
|
Regional Telecommunications Councils
|
0
|
992,913
|
992,913
|
992,913
|
992,913
|
Bullying Prevention
|
0
|
0
|
25,000
|
1,000,000
|
1,000,000
|
Administrator Mentoring
|
0
|
1,000,000
|
1,000,000
|
||
English Language Learner Pilots
|
0
|
500,000
|
500,000
|
||
TeachIowa Job Board/Licensure System
|
0
|
250,000
|
250,000
|
||
Attendance Center/Data Systems
|
0
|
500,000
|
500,000
|
||
Council and Task Force Support
|
0
|
50,000
|
50,000
|
||
AEA
Support System for TLC
|
0
|
1,000,000
|
1,000,000
|
||
UI -
IA Online Advanced Placement Acad.
|
481,849
|
497,268
|
481,849
|
481,849
|
|
UNI -
Math and Science Collaborative
|
5,200,000
|
5,200,000
|
5,200,000
|
5,200,000
|
|
ISD/IBS - Licensed Classroom Teachers
|
82,049
|
85,331
|
82,049
|
82,049
|
Governor Signs Some Bills
•
HF2271 Modifying Supplementary Weighting re: Shared Operational
Functions: The bill rewrites the
operational functions shared weighting.
The new law would allow sharing a curriculum director, school counselor,
and the management functions of superintendent, business, human resources,
transportation or operations and maintenance, for at least 20% of the school
year. The weighting is calculated as an
equivalent number of students; 8 pupils for shared superintendent, 3 pupils for
curriculum or school counselor, and all other positions at 5 pupils. The bill
limits the maximum total shared weighting for all positions to no more than 21
students. (Multiply the student count by
$6,121 to calculate the impact in 2013-14 dollars.) The shared position doesn’t
have to provide the same duties to both school districts sharing. The weighting
applies to both preexisting and new agreements.
The weighting is available for the budget year beginning July 1, 2014
through the budget year July 1, 2019.
The bill also requires the DE to pass rules to set criteria for
determining qualification to share through consideration of increased student
opportunities (removes last year’s requirement to quantify long term savings.)
The bill also sets the range of sharing revenues for AEAs to a minimum of
$30,000 and a maximum of $200,000. The bill was signed by the Governor on March
26.
•
HF
2389 Code of Conduct: The bill requires the BOEE to include in educators code of
conduct a prohibition of sexual or romantic relationship between a licensed
staff member and a student they taught or supervised or coached for at least 90
days after the student graduates or leaves the school. The bill was signed by the Governor on March
26.
•
SF
2056: WGS Incentives: extends whole grade sharing/reorganization
incentives to 2019, for up to three years for WGS and three years following reorganization.
Fiscal impact is estimated at $1.6 million. This bill was signed by the Governor
on March 26.
•
SF 2228 School Special Drivers’
License and Sharing: This
bill allows a person with a special minor's license to drive to a school for
the purpose of participating in extracurricular activities conducted under a
sharing agreement with the student's school of enrollment. This bill was signed by the Governor on March 26.
Chamber Action
·
SF 220 Early Retirement
Incentives: this bill addresses early retirement and management
funds, which currently pay for the costs of early retirement for employees
participating in the program who are at least 55 years old but not more than
65. A court ruling prohibited school
districts from setting an upper age limit on participants, so benefits for any
teachers or administrators wanting to retire early must be paid out of the
school general fund. This bill, as amended, would allow the
management fund to cover the costs of retirees over age 65 that elect to
participate in the program and is retroactive to early retirement programs in
existence on July 1, 2013. The Senate
concurred in the House amendment. The
bill goes to the Governor.
·
SF 2319 Defining Dyslexia:
The bill requires the Reading Research Center to work with the DE and AEAs to
provide no cost professional development to early elementary teachers to
improve skills of all students in reading, conditional on an appropriation in
the budget. The bill requires districts
provide assistance to students to include but not be limited to strategies that
formally address dyslexia, when appropriate and defines dyslexia as a specific
and significant impairment in the development of reading, including but not
limited to phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension,
that is not solely accounted for by intellectual disability, sensory disability
or impairment, or lack of appropriate instruction. A fiscal note details the costs of the bill including training. The bill was amended and approved by the
House and sent back to the Senate.
Advocacy
Plan: Continue contacts from grassroots
networks, staff and school leaders.
Request that the Legislature set the state cost per pupil for FY 2016
before adjourning this Session. This
discussion isn’t over until they adjourn.
Send email and
make phone calls striving for three contacts per advocate (more if your
district is represented by several legislators). Use a pyramid model where each advocate
encourages another to also contact their legislators and the Governor. Engage your grassroots and parent
groups. Link the call to action on your
personal and district Facebook page. The Mar. 13 RSAI Call to Action includes a
sample letter from parent to legislator/Governor to get started. School Funding Decision Needed Now
(w/parent letter) found on the RSAI web page: http://ruralstudentadvocates.blogspot.com/2014/03/rsai-call-to-action-set-per-pupil-costs.html
Contact information:
Call or email
Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds and your legislators and leave a
message: schools need sufficient school
funding, at least 6% per pupil for the 2015-16 school year, determined this
session.
·
Office of the Governor: State Capitol | 1007 East Grand Ave. | Des
Moines, Iowa 50319, Phone: 515.281.5211 | Contact Us (https://Governor.iowa.gov/contact/)
·
To reach members of the Iowa House and Senate:
o Email your legislators. The
correct email address configuration is: firstname.lastname@legis.iowa.gov and
can be verified at the above link.
o Call the Switchboard. Leave
a message for your representative at 515.281.3221 or for your senator at
515.281.3371
Write a letter
to your local newspaper explaining the impact of a delayed decision on your
district or share details from one of the education coalition funding facts of
the week.
The latest
issue of the Funding Fact of the Week detailed budget cuts highlighted in the
news. If your district is eliminating
positions or programs, please let the media know and share the funding fact
linked below.
Education Coalition Joint
Advocacy: Thanks to ISEA, IASB, SAI, Iowa AEAs and the UEN for
working together in this collaborative effort!
Funding fact of the week: This weekly funding fact is designed to
help local advocates generate conversations and fuel the enthusiasm for setting
the state percent of growth for FY 2015-16 during the 2014 Session. The first
issue detailed Iowa’s 37th in the nation ranking in total per pupil
expenditures, now $1,514 below the national average. All issues are linked on the UEN legislative
page. Here’s the link to the last publication:
03/25/2014 - School
Budget Cuts Show Stress of Low State Funding, REC Estimate and Impact of HF
2194 on ATB Cuts
Sign
up to receive the Education Funding fact of the week here: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/home/?u=e0acb6236d9a5dbd136a38ef4&id=815d3aa83c
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