Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Senate File 2302 - Introduced
                                  SENATE FILE 2302
                                  BY BROWN
                            A BILL FOR
An Act relating to students who require special emotional,
  social, or behavioral supports in education, including
  calculations for funding and the establishment of regional
  special schools, and making appropriations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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    Section 1. Section 256B.7, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    256B.7 Examinations of children.
    1. In order to render proper instruction to each child
 requiring special education, the school districts shall certify
 children requiring special education for special instruction
 in accordance with the requirements set up by the division
 of special education and shall provide examinations for
 children preliminary to making certification. The examinations
 necessary for the certification of children requiring special
 education shall be prescribed by the state division of special
 education. Disputes concerning a child’s eligibility for
 special education shall be addressed under rules and procedures
 adopted by the state board of education pursuant to section
 256B.6 and consistent with the federal Individuals with
 Disabilities Education Act of 2004, 20 U.S.C. §1400 et seq.
    2. In order to render proper instruction to each child
 requiring specialized emotional, social, or behavioral
 care, the school districts shall certify children requiring
 specialized emotional, social, or behavioral care for
 special emotional, social, and behavioral instruction in
 accordance with the requirements set up by the division of
 special education and shall provide examinations for children
 preliminary to making certification. The examinations
 necessary for the certification of children requiring
 specialized emotional, social, or behavioral care shall
 be prescribed by the state division of special education.
 Disputes concerning a child’s eligibility for special
 emotional, social, and behavioral instruction shall be
 addressed under rules and procedures adopted by the state board
 of education pursuant to section 256B.6.
    Sec. 2. Section 256B.9, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph
 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
    In order to provide funds for the excess costs of instruction
 of children requiring special education or emotional, social,
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 or behavioral supports, above the costs of instruction of
 pupils in a regular curriculum, a special education weighting
 plan for determining enrollment in each school district is
 adopted as follows:
    Sec. 3. Section 256B.9, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended
 by adding the following new paragraph:
    NEW PARAGRAPH. f. Children who do not require special
 education but whose emotional, social, or behavioral needs
 would prevent the child from academic success in a traditional
 general education classroom are assigned a weighting of two
 and two-tenths. This paragraph also applies to children who
 require the use of therapeutic classrooms.
    Sec. 4. Section 256B.9, subsections 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9, Code
 2024, are amended to read as follows:
    3. The weight that a child is assigned under this section
 shall be dependent upon the required educational modifications
 necessary to meet the special education or emotional, social,
 and behavioral needs of the child. Enrollment for the purpose
 of this section, and all payments to be made pursuant thereto,
 includes all children for whom a special education program or
 course is to be provided pursuant to section 256.12, subsection
 2, sections 273.1 through 273.9, and this chapter, whether or
 not the children are actually enrolled upon the records of a
 school district.
    4. On December 1, 1987, and no later than December 1 every
 two years thereafter, for the school year commencing the
 following July 1, the director of the department of education
 shall report to the school budget review committee the average
 costs of providing instruction for children requiring special
 education in the categories of the weighting plan established
 under this section, and for providing services to nonpublic
 school students pursuant to section 256.12, subsection 2,
 and the director of the department of education shall make
 recommendations to the school budget review committee for
 needed alterations to make the weighting plan suitable for
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                               S.F. 2302
 subsequent school years. The school budget review committee
 shall establish the weighting plan for each school year and
 shall report the plan to the director of the department of
 education. The school budget review committee may establish
 weights to the nearest hundredth. The school budget review
 committee shall not alter the weighting assigned to pupils
 in a regular curriculum, but it may increase or decrease the
 weighting assigned to each category of children requiring
 special education described in subsection 1, paragraphs “b”
 through “f”, by not more than two-tenths of the weighting
 assigned to pupils in a regular curriculum. The state board of
 education shall adopt rules under chapter 17A to implement the
 weighting plan for each year and to assist in identification
 and proper indexing of each child in the state who requires
 special education or emotional, social, and behavioral
 supports.
    5. The division of special education shall audit the reports
 required in section 273.5 to determine that all children in the
 area who have been identified as requiring special education
 or requiring emotional, social, or behavioral supports have
 received the appropriate special education instructional and
 support services, and to verify the proper identification
 of pupils in the area who will require special education
 instructional and support services during the school year in
 which the report is filed. The division shall certify to the
 director of the department of management the correct total
 enrollment of each school district in the state, determined by
 applying the appropriate pupil weighting index to each child
 requiring special education or requiring emotional, social, or
 behavioral supports, as certified by the directors of special
 education in each area.
    7. The costs of special education instructional programs
 and emotional, social, and behavioral supports include the
 costs of purchase of transportation equipment approved by the
 director of the department of education to meet the special
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 needs of children requiring special education with the approval
 of the director of the department of education or requiring
 emotional, social, or behavioral supports. The state board of
 education shall adopt rules under chapter 17A for the purchase
 of transportation equipment pursuant to this section.
    9. Funds generated for special education instructional
 programs and emotional, social, and behavioral supports
 under this chapter and chapter 257 shall not be expended for
 modifications of school buildings to make them accessible to
 children requiring special education or requiring emotional,
 social, or behavioral supports.
    Sec. 5. Section 257.6, subsection 1, paragraph a,
 subparagraph (7), Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
    (7) A student attending an accredited nonpublic school or
 receiving competent private instruction under chapter 299A,
 who is assigned to a therapeutic classroom established in
 accordance with section 256.25A 256.25 or is participating in a
 program under chapter 261E, shall be counted as a shared-time
 student in the school district in which the nonpublic school of
 attendance is located for state foundation aid purposes.
    Sec. 6. Section 257.16C, subsection 2, paragraph d, Code
 2024, is amended to read as follows:
    d. A school district’s transportation cost per pupil
 shall be determined by dividing the school district’s actual
 transportation cost for all children transported in all
 school buses for a school year pursuant to section 285.1,
 subsection 12, less the amount of transportation costs
 reimbursed under section 256.25A and the amount received for
 transporting nonpublic school pupils under section 285.1, by
 the district’s actual enrollment for the school year, excluding
 the shared-time enrollment for the school year as defined in
 section 257.6.
    Sec. 7. Section 257.31, subsection 14, paragraph b, Code
 2024, is amended by striking the paragraph and inserting in
 lieu thereof the following:
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    b. (1) If the amount certified for a school district
 to the director of the department of management under this
 subsection for the base year is negative, the department of
 management shall make supplemental aid payments to school
 districts. Supplemental aid paid to a district shall be an
 amount necessary to offset the district’s negative balance
 raised for special education instruction programs.
    (2) There is appropriated from the general fund of the state
 to the school budget review committee for each fiscal year an
 amount as necessary to be used for supplemental aid payments to
 school districts under subparagraph (1).
    Sec. 8. NEW SECTION. 279.84 Regional special schools.
    1. A school district may acquire by purchase, lease, or
 other arrangement property located within the boundaries of a
 different school district for purposes of operating a regional
 special school, if the boards of directors of both school
 districts agree to such purchase, lease, or other arrangement.
    2. A school district that operates a regional special
 school pursuant to subsection 1 may allow students who are not
 residents of the school district that operates the regional
 special school to attend the regional special school, if the
 board of directors of the school district that operates the
 regional special school and the board of directors of the
 student’s resident school district agree to such arrangement.
    3. An agreement entered into between the boards of directors
 of school districts pursuant to subsection 1 or 2 may provide
 for sharing the costs and expenses of any of the following:
    a. The acquisition of property for purposes of operating a
 regional special school.
    b. The operation of the regional special school.
    4. For purposes of this section, “regional special school”
 means an attendance center at which any of the following
 services are provided:
    a. Services associated with a therapeutic classroom
 established pursuant to section 256.25.
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  b. Educational services for students participating in
special education programs and services under chapter 256B.
  c. Any other services for students who require special
emotional, social, or behavioral supports.
  Sec. 9. REPEAL. Section 256.25A, Code 2024, is repealed.
                         EXPLANATION
         The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
         the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
    This bill relates to students who require special emotional,
 social, or behavioral supports in education, including
 calculations for funding and the establishment of regional
 special schools.
    The bill requires school districts to certify children
 requiring specialized emotional, social, or behavioral care
 for special emotional, social, and behavioral instruction in
 accordance with the requirements set up by the division of
 special education, and to provide examinations for children
 preliminary to making certification. The examinations
 necessary for the certification of children requiring
 specialized emotional, social, or behavioral care must
 be prescribed by the state division of special education.
 Disputes concerning a child’s eligibility for special
 emotional, social, and behavioral instruction must be addressed
 under rules and procedures adopted by the state board of
 education.
    In order to provide funds for the excess costs of instruction
 of children requiring special education above the costs of
 instruction of pupils in a regular curriculum, the state has
 a special weighting plan that allows children who require
 special education to have additional weighting when calculating
 a school district’s funding. The bill adds to the special
 education weighting plan children who do not require special
 education but whose emotional, social, or behavioral needs
 would prevent the child from academic success in a traditional
 general education classroom. These children are assigned a
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 weighting of 2.2, which is the current weighting of children
 who require full-time, self-contained special education with
 little integration into a regular classroom. The bill includes
 children who require the use of therapeutic classrooms in
 the category of children with special emotional, social, or
 behavioral needs.
    Under current law, the school budget review committee must
 determine each year, as soon as possible after June 30, the
 balance of funds for each school district that was raised
 for special education instruction programs under the special
 education weighting plan. If the balance is negative, then
 the school budget review committee is allowed to take amounts
 appropriated to it from certain sources related to state aid
 paid to school districts to make supplemental aid payments
 to the district with a negative balance equal to the state
 aid portion of the district’s negative balance. However, a
 school district is only eligible to receive supplemental aid
 payments if the school district certifies to the school budget
 review committee that for the year following the budget year
 it will notify the school budget review committee to instruct
 the director of the department of management to increase the
 district’s modified supplemental amount and will fund the
 modified supplemental amount increase either by using moneys
 from its unexpended fund balance to reduce the district’s
 property tax levy or by using cash reserve moneys to equal the
 amount of the deficit that would have been property taxes and
 any part of the state aid portion of the deficit not received
 as supplemental aid.
    The bill alters the funding structure for schools with
 a negative balance of funds relating to special education
 instruction by requiring the department of management to make
 supplemental aid payments to the school district in an amount
 necessary to offset the district’s negative balance raised for
 special education instruction programs. The bill appropriates
 from the state general fund to the school budget review
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 committee for each fiscal year an amount of moneys as necessary
 to be used for supplemental aid payments to school districts
 with negative special education fund balances.
    The bill authorizes a school district to acquire property
 located within the boundaries of a different school district
 for purposes of operating a regional special school if the
 boards of directors of both school districts agree to such
 acquisition. The division provides that a school district that
 operates such a regional special school may allow students who
 are not residents of the school district that operates the
 regional special school to attend the regional special school
 if the board of directors of the school district that operates
 the regional special school and the board of directors of the
 student’s resident school district agree to such arrangement.
 Additionally, the division provides that an agreement entered
 into between the boards of directors of school districts under
 these provisions may provide for sharing the costs and expenses
 of the acquisition of property for, and operation of, the
 regional special school.