Jim Kersten, vice president of External Affairs and Government Relations for Iowa Central Community College, gestures to an attendee of the political forum Saturday on the Webster City campus of Iowa Central. He moderated the forum that was attended by Iowa Sen. Dennis Guth, R-28-Hancock County, center, and state Rep. Shannon Latham, R-90-Franklin County.

A convivial mood settled over the packed classroom of the Chelesvig Center on the Iowa Central Webster City campus Saturday for the first in a series of political conversations.

But the topics were serious.

Chief among the questions posed to Iowa Sen. Dennis Guth, R-28-Hancock County, and state Rep. Shannon Latham, R-90-Franklin County, are concerns about the future of the state’s Area Education Agencies in the wake of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ recent Condition of the State address.

Her proposal, which Latham said Saturday is already being revised, has shaken Latham’s constituents.

“I don’t know what the percentage is, but I can tell you that as soon as the Condition of the State address was given that Saturday morning, I had over 1,000 (emails),” she said. “I still have not gotten all the way through them.”

Latham said she is talking with school administrators in her district to get their thoughts.

“I tell you,” she said, “a lot of input would be the long story short, OK?”

Reynolds has said she wants to overhaul Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. One of her proposals would allow Iowa’s public school districts to contract with private companies, or hire their own employees to meet the special education and other needs now fulfilled by AEAs. The legislation, Senate Study Bill 3073, has been officially introduced.

Latham added, “So yes, it will likely be amended. In fact, I’ve heard today that the governor has already (submitted) her amendment, and that was largely based on a lot of input that came right away. So that original bill was 125 pages. I think the amendment, I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard it’s 114 pages.”

One amendment to Reynolds’ original plan will allow AEAs to continue providing general education and media services if requested by schools and approved by the state Department of Education.

Guth said, “I agree with Shannon. We’ve had a lot of emails and they’re very well-written emails. … (One of) the first 20 or so emails came from the superintendent in my district that I’ve known for a long time. And I gave him a call and we had a good talk and I’ve talked to another administrator. I’ve talked to a number of AEA employees and special ed teachers.”

He added, “I spoke with a recently-retired superintendent who told me, yes, there are some things that need to be done.”

Guth said one example of something that needs fixing is the payment system. Some services are paid for by multiple sources, for the same service, multiple times.

“So yes, there’s some oversight. Any big organization needs to have a good look at it once in a while, and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Latham said, “Yeah, it’s definitely a work in progress. … What I would like to see, I guess the business owner in me, I would like to see overhead cut so we could put more boots on the ground. I think I would love for us to be able to increase the number of therapists, psychologists, speech therapists. That’s where I would like to see some of that money go.

“But I think it’s fair to involve all kinds of stakeholders. I mean, in my business, when we want to cut costs, I don’t just decide where to cut them in the business, I ask the people who are impacted in that particular division. Take a look at it, come back to me with recommendations.”

Roughly 40 people attended the event. They were asked to write their questions on cards. The questions were then read by moderator Jim Kersten, vice president of External Affairs and Government Relations for Iowa Central Community College.

Iowa Central Community College, in partnership with the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce, City of Webster City, the Daily Freeman-Journal and KQWC News Radio are the hosts.

The political forums will continue through the Iowa legislative session on these dates: February 24, March 23, and April 27.