–During her Condition of the State address Tuesday night, Governor Kim Reynolds outlined some proposed changes to the state’s Area Education Agencies.
During a meeting of the Algona School Board Monday night, Superintendent Joe Carter detailed what the local AEA office does for the district.
Carter expressed concerns that changes to the states AEA’s could be detrimental to students who are most in need.
Carter says if cuts force a reduction in services from the AEA, the school district would try and replace them, but budget constraints might make that impossible. He says finding those types of services in rural Iowa would be especially challenging.
Statistics show around 70% of AEA services involve directly supporting students who have been identified as having a special need. The Governor proposes ending training and other education services from the AEAs and making special education their only focus. School districts would no longer have to forward special education funding to the AEAs and could choose to hire their own staff, contract with a private firm or pay the A-E-A for special ed services.
