Senate File 289 - Enrolled
Senate File 289
AN ACT
RELATING TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS
OF AREA EDUCATION AGENCIES, SCHOOL DISTRICTS, AND SCHOOL
CORPORATIONS, AND TO THE ELECTION OF A DIRECTOR AS SCHOOL
BOARD PRESIDENT.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
1 Section 1. Section 273.2, subsection 2, Code 2021, is
2 amended to read as follows:
3 2. An area education agency established under this chapter
4 is a body politic as a school corporation for the purpose
5 of exercising powers granted under this chapter, and may sue
6 and be sued. An area education agency may hold property and
7 execute purchase agreements within two years of a disaster as
8 defined in section 29C.2, subsection 4, and lease-purchase
9 agreements pursuant to section 273.3, subsection 7, and if the
10 lease-purchase agreement exceeds ten years or the purchase
11 price of the property to be acquired pursuant to a purchase or
12 lease-purchase agreement exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars
13 the amount stated in section 26.3, subsection 1, the area
14 education agency shall conduct a public hearing on the proposed
15 purchase or lease-purchase agreement and receive approval from
16 the area education agency board of directors and the state
17 board of education or its designee before entering into the
18 agreement.
19 Sec. 2. Section 273.3, subsections 7 and 12, Code 2021, are
20 amended to read as follows:
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21 7. Be authorized to lease, purchase, or lease-purchase,
22 subject to the approval of the state board of education or
23 its designee and to receive by gift and operate and maintain
24 facilities and buildings necessary to provide authorized
25 programs and services. However, a lease for less than ten
26 years and with an annual cost of less than twenty-five thousand
27 dollars the amount stated in section 26.3, subsection 1, does
28 not require the approval of the state board. The state board
29 shall not approve a lease, purchase, or lease-purchase until
30 the state board is satisfied by investigation that public
31 school corporations within the area do not have suitable
32 facilities available. A purchase of property that is not a
33 lease-purchase may be made only within two years of a disaster
34 as defined in section 29C.2, subsection 4, and subject to the
35 requirements of this subsection.
1 12. Prepare an annual budget estimating income and
2 expenditures for programs and services as provided in sections
3 273.1, 273.2, this section, sections 273.4 through 273.8, and
4 chapter 256B within the limits of funds provided under section
5 256B.9 and chapter 257. The board shall give post notice of
6 a public hearing on the proposed budget on the area education
7 agency’s internet site and by publication in an official county
8 the newspaper in each county of general circulation in the
9 territory of the area education agency in which the principal
10 place of business of a school district that is a part of the
11 area education agency is located. The notice shall specify the
12 date, which shall be not later than March 1 of each year, the
13 time, and the location of the public hearing. The proposed
14 budget as approved by the board shall then be submitted to the
15 state board of education, on forms provided by the department,
16 no later than March 15 preceding the next fiscal year for
17 approval. The state board shall review the proposed budget of
18 each area education agency and shall before May 1, either grant
19 approval or return the budget without approval with comments
20 of the state board included. An unapproved budget shall be
21 resubmitted to the state board for final approval not later
22 than May 15. The state board shall give final approval only to
23 budgets submitted by area education agencies accredited by the
24 state board or that have been given conditional accreditation
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25 by the state board.
26 Sec. 3. Section 279.1, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended
27 to read as follows:
28 2. Such organization shall be effected by the election of
29 a president from the members of the board to serve for one
30 year, and who shall be entitled to vote as a member. During
31 nonelection years, the president shall be elected to serve for
32 one year at a regular meeting held not less than one year,
33 nor more than thirteen months, after the prior organizational
34 meeting.
35 Sec. 4. Section 279.33, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended
1 by striking the subsection.
2 Sec. 5. Section 279.38, subsections 1 and 2, Code 2021, are
3 amended to read as follows:
4 1. Boards of directors of school corporations may pay,
5 out of funds available to them, reasonable annual dues to
6 the Iowa association of school boards. Each board that pays
7 membership dues to the Iowa association of school boards shall
8 annually report to the local community and to the department of
9 education the amount the board pays in annual dues to the Iowa
10 association of school boards, the amount of any fees paid and
11 revenue or dividend payments received for services the board
12 receives from the association or from any of the association’s
13 affiliated for-profit entities, and the products or services
14 the school district received inclusive with membership in the
15 association.
16 2. The financial condition and transactions of the Iowa
17 association of school boards shall be audited as provided in
18 section 11.6. In addition, annually the Iowa association of
19 school boards shall publish and submit to the department of
20 education a listing of the school districts and the annual
21 dues paid by each, the total revenue the association receives
22 from each school district resulting from the payment of
23 membership fees and the sale of products and services to
24 the school district by the association or its affiliated
25 for-profit entities, and shall publish an accounting of all
26 moneys expended for expenses incurred by and salaries paid to
27 legislative representatives and lobbyists of the association.
28 In addition, the association shall submit to the general
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29 assembly copies of all reports the association provides to
30 the United States department of education relating to federal
31 grants and grant amounts that the association or its affiliated
32 for-profit entities administer or distribute to school
33 districts. The Iowa association of school boards is subject
34 to chapters 21 and 22 relating to open meetings and public
35 records.
1 Sec. 6. Section 279.41, Code 2021, is amended to read as
2 follows:
3 279.41 Schoolhouses and sites sold —— funds.
4 1. Moneys received from the condemnation, sale, or other
5 disposition for public purposes of schoolhouses, school sites,
6 or both schoolhouses and school sites, shall be deposited in
7 the physical plant and equipment levy fund and may without a
8 vote of the electorate be used for purposes authorized under
9 section 298.3, as ordered by the board of directors of the
10 school district corporation.
11 2. Notwithstanding subsection 1, the board of directors
12 of a school corporation may take action to deposit moneys
13 received as provided in subsection 1 in any account maintained
14 by the school corporation after holding a public hearing on the
15 proposed action of the board. The board shall publish notice
16 of the time and place of the public hearing in the same manner
17 as required in section 24.9.
18 Sec. 7. Section 279.48, subsection 3, Code 2021, is amended
19 by striking the subsection.
20 Sec. 8. Section 279.60, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended
21 to read as follows:
22 2. The school district shall also collect information from
23 each parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a kindergarten
24 student enrolled in the district, including but not limited to
25 on whether the student attended preschool, factors identified
26 by the early childhood Iowa office pursuant to section 256I.5,
27 and other demographic factors. Each school district shall
28 report the results of the community strategies employed during
29 the prior school year pursuant to section 279.68, subsection
30 3, paragraph “a”, the assessment administered pursuant to
31 subsection 1, and the preschool information collected to
32 the department of education in the manner prescribed by the
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33 department not later than January 1 of that school year. The
34 early childhood Iowa office in the department of management
35 shall have access to the raw data. The department shall review
1 the information submitted pursuant to this section and shall
2 submit its findings and recommendations annually in a report to
3 the governor, the general assembly, the early childhood Iowa
4 state board, and the early childhood Iowa area boards.
5 Sec. 9. Section 297.22, subsection 1, paragraphs b, c, and
6 d, Code 2021, are amended to read as follows:
7 b. (1) Proceeds from the sale or disposition of real or
8 other property shall be deposited into the fund which was
9 used to account for the acquisition of the property. If
10 the district is unable to determine which fund was used to
11 account for the acquisition of the property or if the fund no
12 longer exists in the district, the proceeds from the sale or
13 disposition of real property shall be placed in the physical
14 plant and equipment levy fund, and the proceeds from the sale
15 or disposition of property other than real property shall be
16 placed in the general fund. Proceeds from the lease of real or
17 other property shall be placed in the general fund.
18 (2) Notwithstanding subparagraph (1), the board of
19 directors of a school district may take action to deposit the
20 proceeds from the sale or disposition of real or other property
21 in any account maintained by the school district after holding
22 a public hearing on the proposed action of the board. The
23 board shall publish notice of the time and place of the public
24 hearing in the same manner as required in section 24.9.
25 c. Before the board of directors may sell, lease for a
26 period in excess of one year, or dispose of any property
27 belonging to the school, the board shall hold a public hearing
28 on the proposal. The board shall set forth its proposal in a
29 resolution and shall publish notice of the time and the place
30 of the public hearing on the resolution. The notice shall
31 also describe the property. A locally known address for real
32 property may be substituted for a legal description of real
33 property contained in the resolution. Notice The board shall
34 publish notice of the time and place of the public hearing
35 shall be published at least once not less than ten days but not
1 more than twenty days prior to the date of the hearing in a
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2 newspaper of general circulation in the district in the same
3 manner as required in section 24.9. After the public hearing,
4 the board may make a final determination on the proposal
5 contained in the resolution.
6 d. However, property having a value of not more than five
7 twenty-five thousand dollars, other than real property, may be
8 sold or disposed of by any procedure which is adopted by the
9 board. Each such sale or disposal shall be published by at
10 least one insertion each week for two consecutive weeks in a
11 newspaper having general circulation in the district and any
12 other disposition shall be published by at least one insertion
13 in a newspaper having general circulation in the district.
14 Sec. 10. REPEAL. Section 279.44, Code 2021, is repealed.
______________________________ ______________________________
JAKE CHAPMAN PAT GRASSLEY
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
is known as Senate File 289, Eighty-ninth General Assembly.
______________________________
W. CHARLES SMITHSON
Secretary of the Senate
Approved _______________, 2021 ______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor


Statutes affected:
Introduced: 273.2, 279.33, 279.38, 298.3, 279.60, 256I.5
Enrolled: 273.2, 279.33, 279.38, 298.3, 279.60, 256I.5