Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Wednesday signed into law her top priority for the 2024 legislative session: a bill making changes to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies.

Surrounded by Republican lawmakers and joined by school superintendents and other stakeholders, Reynolds signed House File 2612 into law, the day after the Senate passed the measure with a 30-18 vote.

The signing marks the end of a long — and contentious — path toward making changes to Iowa’s AEAs. The agencies provide special education, media and general education services to Iowa schools in addition to support for families and children with disabilities and special needs from birth through age 21.

“While this bill has been the focus of much discussion and debate, it is also presented opportunities for insightful conversations and meaningful compromise,” Reynolds said Wednesday. “Over the last several weeks, I had the opportunity to travel across the state and meet face-to-face with superintendents and other representatives from more than about 150 school districts to get their feedback and on the proposed bill. Many were supportive of the change. Some were not. But everyone was willing to come to the table with their questions, their concerns and their ideas. And I’m proud to say that actually much of their feedback is reflected in the final bill.”

Reynolds originally proposed legislation that would send state and federal special education funding, which currently goes directly to AEA, to public school districts instead. The districts would then have the ability to choose whether to work with AEAs, other service providers or hire their own employees needed to meet needs outlined by a student’s Individualized Education Program.

The new law still makes some funding changes to Iowa’s AEAs, but keeps 90% of school district’s special education funding going to AEAs after first being allocated to school districts, beginning in the second year of implementation. Districts would have control over 10% of special education funds, and in the same time frame, would gain full control over general education and media services funding that currently goes to AEAs.

Some Republican lawmakers defended the law during floor debates as not denigrating AEAs’ work or an attempt to defund the system. But Reynolds emphasized that there is a need for improvement in AEAs, citing the disparity in testing scores between Iowa students with disabilities and the larger Iowa student population, as well as the disparity between Iowa’s scores and the national average on certain tests for students with disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Education also labeled Iowa as “needs assistance” in the area of special education in a 2018 report.

“This legislation intends to resolve these issues,” Reynolds said. “It shifts funding to school districts, empowering them with local control to decide how best to serve their students and improve education outcomes without disrupting services or dismantling the system.”

Critics of the legislation argued that a consultant’s report commissioned by the governor’s office cited misleading information about Iowa special education students’ performance and program spending comparisons with other states.

Bill raises teachers’ salaries, sets per-pupil state funding

The law goes beyond changes to AEAs. It includes measures to increase teachers’ starting salaries to $50,000 in year two of implementation, increase the minimum salary of teachers with 12 or more years of experience to $62,000, and provide funding to boost the wages of paraeducators and other education support staff.

The law also sets a 2.5% state supplemental aid rate, providing funding for Iowa public schools for the upcoming school year. Reynolds said that with these components, the law represents a total investment of roughly $4 billion in Iowa’s K-12 education system.

While Reynolds and Republicans praised the law and the efforts by GOP lawmakers to get it to the governor’s desk, Democrats said the bill signing shows that the governor and members of the majority party are not listening to Iowans.

“When you look at the celebration she’s having, I want you to think about the families who have so much uncertainty now, as they’re wondering what will happen to the services in their communities, what will happen to their kids who are getting AEA services,” House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst told reporters Wednesday.

While there were some superintendents and parents who spoke in favor of the measure, there was vast opposition to the proposal. Several lawmakers of both parties spoke about receiving hundreds of emails and messages from constituents and advocates have held protests at the Capitol and the governor’s mansion, asking lawmakers to abandon the bill.

Konfrst said the bill was “all politics,” and believes that the issue will be a major factor in the 2024 election cycle.

“I can’t imagine this won’t be a campaign issue,” she said. “Because Iowans are furious about this and these people, these Republicans, need to be held accountable for pushing this bill through.”

The legislation will not only be a campaign talking point for Democrats. On Tuesday, Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann criticized Senate Democrats in a news release for voting against increased teacher pay and funding support for paraeducators.

“Today’s vote demonstrates that Senate Democrats prioritize education unions over teachers,” Kaufmann said in a statement. “Despite the opportunity to raise starting teacher pay, they voted against it. As a professor myself, I understand the necessity of having new, young teachers in every district, particularly in rural Iowa. … They should be held accountable.”

Senate Democrats criticized the bill during floor debate Tuesday for combining teacher pay, school funding and AEA changes into one bill, saying it violated the state’s single subject rule for legislation.

Konfrst echoed these criticisms, saying that these measures were combined to “hold teacher pay hostage” and be able to criticize Democrats for voting against a bill that contained certain provisions they would otherwise support.

“There was more wrong with this bill and there was right with this bill, and Senate Democrats were right to vote against it,” Konfrst said. “What I’ll tell you is this: Iowans know that the party that’s here for teachers, the party that’s here for Iowa public schools, is Democrats. And they’re not going to be fooled by one vote, that all of a sudden makes everything (Senate Republicans have) done to attack public education okay.”

Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, praised the bill as a “great example of how a republic works.” By bringing superintendents, school boards, teachers, AEA staff and families to the table, lawmakers were able to craft and pass a bill that will improve educational outcomes in the state, he said, despite opposition.

“There are those opposing this that tend to oppose every effort we have made to improve education in our state,” Wheeler said, pointing to opposition to the 2017 changes to public collective bargaining, expansion of charter and online learning options, and to the Education Savings Account program signed into law last year. Wheeler said that “every single time, our efforts have improved our education system.”

Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, criticized Reynolds and Republican lawmakers for not listening to Iowans who urged them to slow down or halt the process of changing Iowa’s AEA system. She said “parents and children will face the consequences” for the law signed Wednesday.

“While I’m disappointed and ashamed of our governor and the Republican lawmakers who voted for the bill, I’m incredibly thankful for the thousands of Iowans who spoke up and resisted these changes over the last three months,” Jochum said in a statement. “Parents, educators, students, and community leaders changed the course of this legislation. They prevented Republican politicians from fast-tracking this bill and exposed Gov. Reynolds’ misplaced priorities.”