Reynolds renews call for special education reform after adjusting her plan

Published by editor on Thu, 01/25/2024 - 11:50am

By:

Jared Strong

Iowa Capital Dispatch

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday reiterated her desire to revamp a system that provides special education services to Iowa’s schoolchildren amid early opposition to her proposals.

Reynolds says those services have suffered as the state’s Area Education Agencies have expanded their scope beyond special education in the past 50 years.

The nine agencies were created by state lawmakers in 1974 to serve Iowans with disabilities from birth to age 21. Since then, the agencies have broadened their offerings to include, for example, teacher training and crisis response.

“We don’t need the AEAs to be all things,” Reynolds said in an “open letter to Iowans” on Friday. “We need them to be one thing: the state’s premier provider of special education services.”

Reynolds noted that “only about one-third of the services AEAs list today are focused on supporting children with disabilities.”

It’s true that special education is one of three broad categories of services now offered by the agencies, said Cindy Yelick, the chief administrator of the Heartland AEA, which covers a wide area of urban and rural central Iowa. But she said about 73% of the agencies’ budgets is devoted to special education.

The agencies evaluate students to determine whether they need special assistance, advise and support special education teachers, and also provide direct services to students, such as speech, physical and occupational therapy.

Reynolds proposed sweeping changes to the way the agencies operate in her Condition of the State address this month, which included allowing school districts to seek the services elsewhere and confining the agencies’ services to special education.

The legislation was officially introduced on Tuesday, and by Thursday, Reynolds announced that it would be amended to allow the agencies to continue to offer services beyond special education.

“The governor got caught playing politics with special education services for Iowa kids, and Iowans are now holding her accountable for it,” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst, a Windsor Heights Democrat, said in response to Reynolds’ Friday letter.

Reynolds has insisted that standardized test scores of Iowa students with disabilities show that more than half of the country’s states are helping those students more effectively, and that is why the changes are necessary.

“If we don’t do something different, we can simply expect more of the same,” Reynolds said. “That’s not good enough for our children.”

But those test scores are just one measure of success, Yelick said, and they aren’t necessarily a fair comparison among states that have different standards for providing the services.

“We don’t measure the success of special education students just on a standardized test,” Yelick said.

It’s also important to consider the progress students make toward their education goals and whether they are able to continue their education beyond high school, get a job and live independently, Yelick said.

She said the agencies sought to be part of the discussions that led to the new legislation but that they were largely blocked from the process.

“The AEA system is really open to conversation, dialogue, planning around what we can do to improve service,” Yelick said. “We really believe (the new legislation) has the potential to have a significant impact on children and families and schools, and we want the state to be thoughtful about that and make sure that we aren’t dismantling services that are highly needed.”

Reynolds said Friday on an episode of Iowa Press that too much money is being paid to administer the AEA services and that the nine agencies should be pared down.

“Really what we’re doing is kind of eliminating or reducing some of the overhead,” Reynolds said. “Right now we have nine AEA districts, nine chiefs, and they were making, on an average when you look at their total compensation package, about $310,000 each. And we don’t need nine. We’re a small state.”

That compensation equals about 0.5% of the $529 million that Reynolds said funds the AEA system. Yelick said the total administrative compensation among AEA agencies is less than 5% of their budgets, which is in line with state law requirements for school districts.

Democrat lawmakers have seized on the early amendment of the bill as a sign that Reynolds’ proposal is unpalatable and will face continued opposition.

“While I’m glad to see the governor slowing down and listening to Iowans, it’s clear that she still does not understand the value AEAs provide or the harm her proposed cuts will have on children, families and communities,” said Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum, of Dubuque. “Iowans know they have the governor’s attention. I implore them to keep up the pressure to protect our AEAs.”