AEA proposal leads discussion at legislative coffee

State Representative Ray “Bubba” Sorensen of Greenfield, who serves District 23 in the Iowa House, fielded many questions Saturday during a 2 p.m. legislative coffee at The Olive Branch about Governor Kim Reynolds’ recent proposal to reform Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. Everyone who spoke was mostly against the current versions of Reynolds’ proposal.

The proposal can be found in House Study Bill 542 and Senate Study Bill 3073.

One person speaking during the coffee commented they feel like this bill is another attack designed to “destroy our public school system.”

Sorensen commented part way through the discussion that currently, he’s a “no” if a vote were to come up in the House on this bill in its present form.

Another person commented that they’re concerned about the way Reynolds introduced this bill. They, and others, feel as though she gathered data in a somewhat secretive way behind closed doors, then introduced her proposal to legislators as the rest of Iowa heard about them at the same time in her Condition of the State Address.

“Right now I am a no [vote]. I didn’t like the fact she held it for a big surprise and I don’t like the meat cleaver approach — I have made that clear with her office. I think many of us have shared with her office that this is a bill we’re not excited about,” Sorensen said. “It’s one of those things where I haven’t heard about a lot of problems with the AEAs. My inbox is flooded. Most of the questions you’ve asked me I’ve asked her.”

Now, legislators are trying to work together to not only ask questions but refine this proposal and work backward, in hopes of making it into something that is more agreeable and still effective.

If “fat needs to be cut” from the AEAs, Sorensen said, the questions should be asked about how that can be accomplished without it hurting rural schools and “kneecapping” the services provided to them in many areas.

Others questioned the validity of the data Reynolds has used in communicating the reasoning for her proposal. AEA staff in the room also stated that because of the way special education students qualify for services in Iowa — they qualify based on uniqueness from their peers, not on their diagnosis or lack thereof — there should be more than one data point used when making big decisions like these.

A piece of this proposal would give more power back to local schools.

Sorensen said another red flag for him is that even the Senate — a group he thinks has been fairly agreeable to Reynolds’ ideas in recent history — has pushed back on this proposal.

“It has to be a very deliberate approach. I’m trying to listen to both sides. I’m trying to hear where the Governor’s office is coming from and where my constituents and the AEAs are coming from,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen said that one of the biggest reasons he’s heard for reforming the AEAs would what some say is a lack of accountability. That being said, he wants sunlight on everything in government. For example, his sunlight is that he’s on a ballot every two years.

“A lot of these state departments get to hide with very high salaries and they’re not on a ballot. I want to make sure they’re being held accountable the way the rest of us want them to be held accountable, especially when we’re dealing with our most vulnerable — our disabled, special education, and so on,” Sorensen commented. “As long as they’re being held accountable appropriately, that’s what made me perk up when I first heard that. I like that idea.”

The discussion also included the fact that there needs to be increased parent buy-in to accompany a child’s education. Workforce issues, violence in schools, etc., can all be tied back to the services the AEA provides. For instance, many AEA professionals went to help the Perry Community School District recently after the school shooting there.

The representative held a meeting Friday on a video conference call with school superintendents across the district. Sorensen said maybe one could see another side to the discussion, however the rest were against the AEA proposal, where it stands.

On Friday, Reynolds released a statement amending her proposal that was originally given and written about in last week’s edition.

In the statement, Reynolds proposed an amendment which keeps many of the general education and media services pieces the AEA carries out in place, if they’re requested to provide them by a district and that is approved by the Department of Education. It also proposes automatically shifting control of state and federal special education funding from the AEAs to public school districts and allows schools to retain their share of AEA dollars for general education services. Oversight of Special Education would shift to the Department of Education under the current version of the proposal.

Also relating to education, Sorensen said he will always advocate for higher State Supplemental Aid — the statutorily determined dollar amount that impacts the amount a school district is authorized to spend per pupil.