Iowa AEA changes phase in as school year begins

Over the summer, AEA leaders had to figure out what to charge school districts for media and educational services under the new "fee for service” model, find out which services each district wants from their AEA and figure out how to provide them after hundreds of employees left since AEA changes were proposed by Gov. Kim Reynolds.

"Going from the system we are in to what the new reality of the system looks like has been just a lot of learning, research [and] connecting with colleagues to get that stood up on a short timeline,” said Cindy Yelick, chief administrator of Heartland Area Education Agency.

This year, the law signed by Reynolds in March shifts 60% of AEA funding for media and educational services to school districts. They can decide to buy specific services from an AEA, get similar services elsewhere or use the money for something different.

Next school year, districts will have control over all of the media and education services money that previously flowed directly to AEAs — about $68 million . The law will also shift 10% of special education funding to school districts, leaving 90% with the AEAs.

For this year, AEA leaders said they are still providing certain media and educational services to all school districts, including book sets and some digital resources, as well as crisis response teams that can help in the event of a student or teacher’s death. School districts can then select additional services that fit their budget, such as digital learning consultants to integrate technology into a classroom and literacy consultants to coach teachers in reading instruction.

AEA leaders told IPR that school districts are choosing to purchase a lot of their services this year. But they worry the new law is causing an urban-rural divide in access to education services that the AEA system was created to prevent.

"It’s really a tale of two cities,” said Stan Rheingans, chief administrator of Keystone AEA and Central Rivers AEA. "Our larger districts are certainly spending the dollars that they have, but they can attain largely the same services that they’ve always had without expending all of their resources. Our smaller districts are having to be more frugal and make some choices. They’re certainly spending their dollars with us, but their dollars just don’t go as far as maybe they thought or had hoped they would.”

Barb Schwamman is superintendent of Osage Community School District and Riceville Community School District, which have about 1,000 and 400 students, respectively. She said they are using all of their media and educational services funding for AEA services, and she is concerned about the future as more money shifts away from the AEAs.

Schwamman said if she can’t get services like book sets, science kits and school improvement consultants through the AEAs next year, her districts won’t be able to afford them on their own.

"We’re very apprehensive as we move forward,” Schwamman said. “We don’t want our students and families and educators — anyone — to fall through the cracks.”

IPR asked Reynolds to respond to those concerns about rural school districts.

"If they want to continue to use the AEAs in the same manner that they did before, then they can continue to do that,” Reynolds said at a news conference last week. "Nothing has changed.”

Meanwhile, larger school districts are more likely to have money and workforce available to build up in-house services.

Superintendent Erick Pruitt of the Ankeny Community School District, which has about 12,750 students, said the district is planning to use its media and education services funding with the AEAs this year as needs come up, likely for social emotional learning and behavior support.

But he said the district is also looking at what it would need to do to take over some services that the AEAs currently provide.

"We understand that Heartland [AEA] has been a valued partner in providing those special education services to our students, but we also need to work toward building capacity in our organization to provide those services to our families and to our students,” Pruitt said.

Reynolds said AEA chiefs and superintendents are determined to make the new system work, and she is very optimistic about the direction it is going. She said her goal was to bring transparency, accountability and consistency to the money in the AEA system.

"Get those dollars into the classrooms, into services for these kids that need them, instead of wasting them or with duplication of services,” Reynolds said. “We need to be more intentional.”

AEAs go into school year with fewer workers

Hundreds of workers left the nine AEAs since early this year when Reynolds first announced proposed changes.

At least four AEAs — Central Rivers, Prairie Lakes, Green Hills and Great Prairie — reported a 20% or higher staff turnover rate in the 2023-2024 school year, which is double the typical rate for some.

And according to AEA data released by Democrats in the Iowa Legislature, the AEA system started the school year with 429 fewer employees than they had at the beginning of last school year.

AEA leaders said they are prioritizing filling special education positions, while leaving many media and education services jobs open. At Heartland AEA, Yelick said approximately 80 positions out of about 750 total won’t be filled the same way they were before.

Rheingans said it’s been hard to hire people at the Keystone and Central Rivers AEAs lately because applicants are looking for job stability. He said they will be stretched thin for a while.

"We absolutely have a staff shortage, but we’re filling those gaps with some transfers, but also in increasing workloads of some folks,” Rheingans said. "Obviously we want to create a scenario where all kids get what they need, and so we’re working really hard to figure out how that puzzle will fit together.”

Northwest AEA Chief Administrator Dan Cox said that agency had an 11% drop in staff from the beginning of last school year to this school year. He said because of the new law, Northwest AEA is no longer offering post-secondary success support, and its creative services print shop was combined with the Prairie Lakes AEA.

"We have maintained all our other services, but with fewer staff to provide them,” Cox said.

Schwamman said the staff shortage could mean AEA employees have less time to devote to each school district, leaving more responsibilities for school administrators.

"When you’re stretching those people so thin, they’re not able to do the job that they want to do,” she said.

Reynolds has previously responded to AEA staff departures by saying that this is the AEAs being "right-sized” so they can focus on improving outcomes for kids in special education.

More AEA changes to come

AEA leaders said they will know more about the effects of the new law after they find out what services school districts will purchase from them next year, when schools get control of more money. AEAs will then build a budget and hire or cut staff accordingly.

"So I think while we ramp into the school year, there’s still some uncertainty,” Yelick said. "We really won’t know the full impact of the legislation, I think, until further into the year. But we will remain focused on doing everything we can for kids and helping them achieve.”

Yelick said other changes made by the law — like the Iowa Department of Education deciding what professional development is allowed and taking on special education oversight — will be rolled out over the next year.

The law also requires a task force to make recommendations to the Iowa Legislature by the end of the year for improving the AEAs. Legislative leaders have not yet announced a meeting to appoint the task force members.

Editor's note: This story was updated Thursday, Aug. 29., to include the AEA staff reduction of 429 employees reported by Democratic lawmakers.