Iowa House Republicans have passed their bill that replaces Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed overhaul of the state’s Area Education Agencies.
Under the House plan (HF 2612), school districts must continue using the AEAs for special education services, but they could eventually go outside the system for other things like media services.
It also creates a task force to examine things like how to improve test scores for students in special education.
But Democratic Rep. Molly Buck of Ankeny says the task force should weigh in before lawmakers make changes that no one had considered until a few weeks ago.
No one asked for this bill. No one campaigned on this issue. The AEAs were blindsided by this bill. And I can tell you that schools and teachers felt really blindsided, too.
The bill passed on a vote of 53 to 41 with nine Republicans joining Democrats to vote against the bill.
Now it heads to the Iowa Senate which has been working on its own version of AEA legislation.
