The Iowa Senate on Tuesday passed a bill overhauling the state’s area education agencies, increasing minimum teacher salaries and increasing state per-pupil funding for public schools by 2.5%. Gov. Kim Reynolds is scheduled to sign the bill into law this afternoon. The Iowa House of Representatives last week passed the amended bill, tying AEA changes with increased teacher pay and a fund for paraprofessional raises, the per-pupil funding increase and a task force to study AEA effectiveness. The bill requires school districts to send 100% of special education funding that currently goes to AEAs to the agencies in the first year, then 90% thereafter. For education and media services, 60% of funding that currently goes to the AEAs would go to districts in the first year, and 40% would go to AEAs. Starting in the second year, 100% of education and media services funding would remain with districts, though they could continue to contract with AEAs for those services.
