Educators, parents react with trepidation to governor's plan for Iowa area education agencies

[cigaretteman]

Shock. Frustration. Anger. Fear.
Those are just some of the reactions to Gov. Kim Reynold’s proposal for overhauling the state’s area education agencies.
In her State of the State address last week, Reynolds announced legislation — Bill 542 — that could include transferring oversight of the nine AEAs to the Iowa Department of Education, eliminating services and changing the way the organizations are funded.
AEAs that provide expertise to educators and families would be prohibited from offering services beyond special education for students — and school districts could drop their current agency and look elsewhere for the services under the bill proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“Over the last year, in dozens of conversations with parents, teachers, school administrators and AEA staff, it’s become clear that while some of our AEAs are doing great work, others are underperforming,” Reynolds said.

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“We have superintendents who won’t use their services but are still required to pay for them. And AEAs have grown well beyond their core mission of helping students with disabilities, creating top-heavy organizations with high administrative expenses,” she said.

Pushback has been swift and strong.
Margaret Buckton, a lobbyist for the Urban Education Network and Rural School Advocates of Iowa, said “overhaul” isn’t a strong enough word to describe how the bill would impact area education agencies.

“Boy, I hope they take their time and find out what parents of students receiving services and community members value in the AEA structure and not make changes flippantly,” she said.

Wide array of services​

Amy Knupp is the executive director of special education for Central Rivers AEA in Cedar Falls, which serves 63,500 students and 5,000 educators in 71 districts (53 public and 18 nonpublic) in 18 counties.





Knupp

Just a fraction of the services provided by AEAs include hearing and vision services, juvenile detention center education, occupational and physical therapy, early access services for infants and toddlers, college and career readiness support, athletic coaching certification, computer science support, content-specific training (literacy, math, science), gifted and talented program support and training, paraeducator certification and training, crisis emergency support and library and digital resources.


“When we see a student struggling, not just special education students, we determine what interventions will be useful. Experts come in and help us fill the gaps, determine what strategies best work for the child,” Knupp said.
“There is a lot of daily interaction, all the time. Whether it is special education or media resources, we ask what else do they need. Occupational therapy? Physical therapy? We have equipment onsite. A student can try it out to see what works for them before the school purchases it, whether it’s a wheelchair, a stander or a communication device.





A rock is painted with a "P" logo to memorialize victims of the Perry High School shooting at the school on Jan. 6 in Perry.
Lily Smith, The Des Moines Register via AP
“The day of the Perry student shooting, Heartland AEA had more than 50 people respond, including a unification response team and a crisis counseling team. All the AEAs have crisis teams that drop everything at a moment’s notice.

“The governor says there is no oversight. We do have oversights. All AEAs go through compliance reviews through the Department of Education. We have received glowing reports. If there were concerns, why were they not communicated? Nobody has come and talked to us. I welcome any kind of feedback. Let’s sit down and talk about what needs to improve. We were never given that opportunity,” Knupp said.





Central Rivers Area Education Agency's headquarters in Cedar Falls.
COURIER FILE PHOTO

Jobs will be lost​

Should the bill pass, nearly 100 jobs will be lost in the Central Rivers AEA region alone. Statewide among all AEAs, this number will climb to roughly 1,000. These jobs represent individuals serving in media, technology and educational services (professional learning) roles, as all those services will go away, Knupp said.


“Additionally, remaining AEA staff will live under a cloud of uncertainty, not knowing from year to year if districts will contract their services,” she said.
“This bill really turns it into a competitive bidding process … and students will not get near the services they get from us. That is not what our schools need. That’s not what our students need.

Currently, funding – called flow-through money – is set aside for special education services, general education services and media services,” Knupp said.
“That money goes to the schools and flows right into us. It is pooled, and we hire the support staff to go out and help the districts with whatever they need. Under this bill, the federal and state money will go directly to the schools who can contract through any AEA, hire their own staff or go with an independent agency. We’re talking about $70 million dollars. The money for special education will remain. Money for instructional and media services, the districts will not get that.



“All professional development for gen ed teachers will go away. All media, checking in and out books and equipment, will go away. We have van drivers who deliver to the schools at least once a week, usually much more often – that will go away.
“I am most concerned about the smaller districts, the low-incidence schools who might get a student with autism or cognitive delays once every five to 10 years. How are they going to get assistance with that? These students need a lot of supervision and different types of instruction, and they look to us for that. How are they going to contract out for that? They are the ones that are going to suffer the most.
“I think this bill could open discussions. It may be time to review the AEAs, but let’s do it together. If they are concerned about the gap between gen ed and special education performance, let’s identify the best practices to get into the districts,” Knupp said.

Additionally, Knupp said, under the bill AEAs will not be able to own any property.
“River Hills will have to be turned over to the Department of Education,” she said. “Parents are very adamant about that program, very passionate. I would hate to see anything happen there.”





Olivia Scott shows off the Special Olympics medals she won in swimming.
Courtesy photo

Educators, parents react with trepidation to governor's plan for Iowa area education agencies

Should the bill pass, nearly 1,000 jobs will be lost statewide in media, technology and educational services.

nonpareilonline.com

 

[cigaretteman]

A student’s story​

Olivia Scott is 24 years old. She cannot read. She cannot write a sentence or do a math equation.
Early on, she was diagnosed with developmental delays, speech delays and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
She first received early intervention services from Central Rivers when she was 4 years old. Later, while attending Dysart-Geneseo Elementary School, the decision was made to transfer her to River Hills.
“When she was first born, I said she was going to be involved with everything, not set aside,” said her mother, Jenna Scott. “I was that gung-ho parent, and I was not going to back down.

“But the gap kept getting bigger. In kindergarten, if some kids can’t color in the lines, it’s not a big deal. But when you get into second grade, and she can’t write words, she can’t read, that gap really shows.
“We went to the principal and said, ‘Can you meet her needs?’ He said, ‘Probably not. … You have two choices. She can be the lowest-functioning student at D-G … or she can be one of the higher functioning students at River Hills.’

“After taking a tour of River Hills and seeing kids flourish with as much help and support as they needed, I changed my tune. This is where she needs to be. The pluses way outnumber the minuses. (The staff) are all there for the same purpose. They want to teach those kids. It is invaluable. You can’t put a price on that.
“At River Hills, she can be among her peers and be treated like a normal student. She was like the homecoming queen, everybody knew her. She could have conversations with nice interaction. She could tell jokes and laugh at jokes. All because AEA put all those services in same location right there at River Hills,” Jenna Scott said.
Today, Olivia lives in a group home with roommates. She is a happy, active, responsible young woman.
“She likes to do puzzles and diamond art, and she loves WWE,” Jenna Scott said. “Roman Reigns is her favorite.
“She used to repeat the same thing over and over. River Hills worked really hard with her to give her more conversation skills. She is not shy. Her education hasn’t been the usual academic education, it is more based on vocational skills. She can do a job. She can work.”
In fact, Olivia holds down two jobs. She works at the Cedar Falls Hy-Vee as well as her family’s business, Harper’s Public House in Dysart.
“She doesn’t like to be bored,” Jenna said. “She seats people, gives them menus, gets drinks for them. She is kind of a local celebrity.”
Jenna worries about what will happen if the state takes over.
“They don’t know her. They haven’t watched her grow from a 4-year-old to a 24-year-old.
“These kids don’t like change to begin with. They are not just a number. Every kid is different. They need consistency. I am literally saying (Olivia) would not be where she is today without the AEA.
“This bill would be a terrible thing for these kids. It would be terrible for the families, the workplaces, for the world. It is just a terrible idea.”

Rural schools hurt​

Another concern is that rural school districts will be disproportionately negatively impacted by the changes.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck Superintendent Caleb Bonjour loudly sings the praises of AEAs.




Bonjour

“They are just a phenomenal resource in general,” he said. “I like to think of our district as Batman and the AEA as Robin. They help support us in virtually everything we do. This is my 13th year, and AEA has always been there to help.
“Teachers and administrators have a lot on their plates. AEAs help ensure we don’t add too much to our plates. They help us shoulder the burden. Anytime there is a government mandate, AEA is the first to help us navigate it. They are think tanks, they facilitate discussions, they explain the impact of bills, they are the hub of that communication. They are a tremendous resource.
“I can pick up the phone, call the chief AEA representative and have a face-to-face in a day or two. They will answer virtually anytime I call. I have reached out to the state and have had no response since October,” Bonjour said.
Larger districts can absorb that more easily.
“We are currently working with AEA building our strategic plan, scheduling professional development, creating a stronger multi-tiered system of support, adopting new curriculums in math and literacy. All that support would be gone, too. We would lose so much support. We won’t have the manpower to do everything. We will have to pick and choose.
“And looking at the retention ability of our Department of Education, it is not high. That worries me.
“My biggest fear is a rush to make a decision while not fully understanding the issues. Ask the people on the front lines, ask the teachers and the leaders what the AEAs provide.”



Tragically, during Bonjour’s tenure, his districts have suffered the deaths of three students.
“Every single one was challenging. One passed away in a car accident. An AEA crisis team was onsite before the day was over. Another was a house fire. AEA was there before school started. The third was a farming accident. I reached out to the AEA chief. ‘What do you need?’ they asked. These are the things that are hard to put numbers on. Personally, I don’t know what I would have done without AEA. This bill strips all of this away.
“This is going to have a gigantic impact. We’re going to lose a lot of good people in our state. They are going to go to other states where education is not constantly under attack,” Bonjour said.

Lawmakers react​

Speaker of the House Pat Grassley told reporters after Reynolds’ speech last week there would be “an expectation” that special education services would still be provided, but he wanted school districts to have freedom to allocate resources and money as they wished.
“I think there’s going to be more of a want to give that flexibility to school districts, and I think you’ll have the ability to be creative with some of the flexibilities that it sounds like will be in the governor’s bill,” Grassley said.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Grimes, echoed Grassley. “You’re looking at giving school districts the flexibility with that money to do what they want with it,” he said.
Democrats said they were skeptical and wanted to see details.
Senate Majority Leader Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, whose late daughter received special education services through the AEAs, said she was concerned the proposal could disproportionately affect rural areas.
“I know a lot of families with special needs children are so dependent on those services,” Jochum told reporters after Reynolds’ speech. “ … It sounds like we’re beginning to privatize even the area education agencies.”