Governor Kim Reynolds says her push to overhaul Area Education Agencies is designed to address a bloated bureaucracy and 20 years of lagging test scores among Iowa students with disabilities. Reynolds says Iowa is a small state and does not need nine AEAs.
Reynolds originally proposed having Iowa’s nine AEAs focus solely on special education services for disabled students, but she’s adjusting her plan to retain other services like a media lending library and curriculum outlines for teachers. Reynolds says her goal is to have the Iowa Department of Education develop a list of approved AEA services schools may choose to use.
Reynolds has not proposed closing or consolidating AEAs, but she has asked legislators to hire dozens more staff in the Iowa Department of Education to oversee the 34-hundred people who work in Area Education Agencies around the state.
Reynolds says her realignment will let local school districts choose whether to continue using AEA services, hire their own staff, or find a private vendor with the combination of state, federal and local property taxes that under current law automatically funneled to the AEAs.
Reynolds made her comments on the Iowa Press program on Iowa PBS.
