The Rozenboom Report – April 26, 2024

by Senator Ken Rozenboom
The 2024 session of the 90th General Assembly officially ended in the early hours of the morning last Saturday. The Senate adjourned at 3:36 am and the House followed suit at 4:23 am.

More income tax cuts for Iowans
As Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver said in his closing remarks, “the headline of this session is simple: Iowa’s income tax rate will be the 6th lowest in the country of the states that have an income tax, and starting pay for Iowa teachers will be the 5th highest in the country. Beginning January 1, 2025, Iowa families will save an average of $800 on their state income taxes. And these savings will continue year after year, permanently ensuring Iowans keep more of what they earn. A simple flat tax rate provides incentives to work hard and build a life in the greatest state in the country. Proposed constitutional amendments to require a flat tax and a supermajority to raise taxes will give Iowans the confidence of knowing that state government will stay within its means, and taxes will remain low, fair, and structured to promote growth.”

Education remains a priority for legislators
K-12 education funding was substantially increased for the next school year, and the minimum teacher salary in Iowa is raised to $47,500 for next year. The following year, the minimum teacher salary will be $50,000. For teachers who have at least 12 years of experience, the minimum salary is $60,000 in the first year, and $62,000 in the following years. This boost in salaries is the biggest increase for teachers in the history of Iowa, and puts our state fifth in the nation for starting teacher salaries. Coupled with the fact that Iowa has the 6th lowest cost of living in the nation, this will help support teachers across the state, attract new teachers to Iowa, and aid us in our goal of making Iowa one of the best states for education.

Additionally, we established another increase in funding for K-12 education for the school year starting next fall. Along with the other education funding we will have this year, including teacher salaries, money for support staff, transportation equity, and special education, we are looking at over $172 million in additional funding for Iowa public schools next year. Total state spending on education will be approximately $3.8 billion for Iowa public schools, and property tax adds another $1.7 billion for K-12 education.

Summary of AEA Reform
Nothing grabbed the headlines this year more than the long overdue AEA (Area Education Agencies) reform. First, we need to understand why reform was needed. Let’s review.

Iowa’s AEA system was created 50 years ago as a school support system to help the schools provide education to our special needs children. It has grown into a bureaucracy with over 3400 employees and an annual budget of over $529 million. For comparison, Iowa’s Road Use Tax Fund has an annual budget of approximately $1.2 billion, meaning that the AEA system spends nearly half of what Iowa spends annually for road and bridge construction and maintenance.
The nine AEA Chief Administrators average annual compensation package is $310,000, with another 130 AEA employees with salaries higher than the Governor’s $130,000 annual salary.
In 2011, the legislature created a task force to provide recommendations to improve the educational performance for our special needs children because Iowa was not performing up to par with other states.No legislative action was taken at that time, and the AEAs did not implement those 2011 recommendations.
Since 2017, Iowa students with disabilities ranked 30th or worse on 9 of 12 assessments according to the NAEP scores (National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the “nation’s report card”). The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has identified Iowa as “needs assistance” for the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA).
Also in 2017, Senate Republicans asked the AEA administrators to find ways to be more effective and more efficient with taxpayer dollars so that the legislature did not have to step in. We were ignored, and we finally determined that we did need to step in.

So what did we do in 2024? Contrary to all the negative rhetoric, the legislature did not “dismantle” the AEA system. Consider what the reform actually did.

Restored oversight of special needs delivery services to the Dept. of Education. Historically, the DE did have responsibility for making sure that our special needs children receive “free appropriate public education” (FAPE) as required by state and federal law. This authority was granted to the AEAs about 25 years ago which created a conflict of interest within the AEA system in the sense that they provided both the delivery of service and the oversight of that service to the schools.
Beginning in FY 2026, school districts are required to use at least 90% (currently 100%) of the funds the school district receives for special education support services district cost for special education support services contracted from an AEA. Local school districts will have discretion on how to spend the remaining 10%.
Restored control of local property tax dollars for education and media services to the local school district instead of requiring schools to give 100% of that funding to the AEAs, as is currently the case. This transition will take place over the next two years, with local school boards having control over 60% of that funding for FY25 and 100% of that funding beginning in FY26 and thereafter. The school districts can still contract with the AEA for those education and media services, but there will now be full accountability and transparency because the AEAs will have to establish the value of those services relative to the cost.
For a complete summary of the changes please refer to this fiscal note.

Reorganizing state government
Another consistent goal of Senate Republicans over the years has been reducing the size of state government and making it more efficient. Last year a major government reorganization bill passed and it included a review of the state’s board and commissions. This year the legislature acted on that review, eliminating dozens of outdated boards and commissions, consolidating others, and streamlining the process for Iowans interacting with their government. This body also led on ensuring state rules were being reviewed and ensuring those regulations put Iowans first, not government.

Improving early childhood literacy
HF2545 directs the director of the Department of Education (DE) to conduct a comprehensive review of the high school graduation requirements and core curriculum, the core content standards, and the educational standards established in or pursuant to code. The comprehensive review must generate recommendations for policy changes which will be included in a report back to the Governor and General Assembly. The recommendations for policy changes must include the following:

A plan to regularly review and revise the core content standards focused on English language arts, math, science, and social studies, with a focus on United States history, western civilization, and civics.
A plan to make Iowa’s educational standards the best in the nation.
Input from relevant stakeholders, including parents and teachers.
A plan to increase the quality of the instructional curriculum.
A plan to maximize local flexibility in graduation requirements and course offerings while maintaining a goal that all high school graduates graduate with necessary skills.
Identification of opportunities to equip high school graduates with sufficient knowledge of civics and US history, including the principles reflected in the Constitution, so that high school graduates are capable of discharging the responsibilities associated with US citizenship.
A statewide literacy plan to increase student proficiency using systematic and sequential approaches to teaching phonetic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and text comprehension.

2024 Session Comes to a Close
The 2024 session was a big win for Iowans, and we passed some major legislation to address the concerns of Iowans and the issues important to them. With all these accomplishments, we are looking forward to getting back home to our districts, spending time with our families, and talking with constituents.