Action Line for February 26, 2010
Volume XXXIII, Number 7
On Monday of this week it was announced that House Education Chair Roger Wendt (D-Sioux City) is ill and won’t return to the Legislature this year, nor will he run for re-election in the fall. Education stakeholders were stunned and saddened by the loss of his leadership. As a former teacher and administrator, Roger is a strong advocate for education and his leadership has been committed to ensuring equity in educational programming for all students. Without his leadership, we may not have seen the Statewide Penny nor the fund to buy down the highest property tax levies. Please do not hesitate to once again thank him for his leadership on all education issues. His e-mail address is roger.wendt@legis.state.ia.us.
Next week is the end of the second funnel which means all bills, with a few exceptions such as appropriations and tax bills, must have passed one chamber and be out of the committee of the opposite chamber by next Friday. Most of the bills IASB would like to see passed have already made it through the process and are still alive. The one exception is SF 2289, De-accreditation Clean-Up by Education, which has only passed the Senate and is not yet out of the House Education Committee. But, at this time, we do not believe it will die in the House.
Instead of holding the Legislative Update scheduled for Thursday, March 4, via the ICN, we have decided to go over the material at next Friday’s conference call, which we have started doing weekly. By doing this, we hope to save members some time and money, as you will not need to drive to an ICN site. We will still have an in-depth discussion of what made it through the funnel and where we stand on critical pieces of legislation, so please tune in Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. Instructions for the conference call are posted at www.ia-sb.org. Feel free to e-mail questions ahead of time to Mary Gannon at mgannon@ia-sb.org.
Bills on the Move
SF 2316 – Floodplain Management by Rebuild Iowa Committee
This bill would put more restrictions on development within the 500-year floodplain. While the bill was significantly amended, it still requires cities with 500-year floodplain maps to mitigate to the 500-year floodplain level when building new “critical facilities” or doing a substantial modification or improvement of “critical facilities,” such as police and fire stations, hospitals and medical facilities. Language prohibiting the storage of public records within the 500-year floodplain was removed. SF 2316 narrowly passed the Senate 26-20. IASB is monitoring the bill, which is now in the House Rebuild Iowa committee.
SF 2305 - Sex Offender Registry Changes by Judiciary
This bill makes some clean-up amendments to last year’s major rewrite of the sex offender registry bill. Of importance to IASB members is a provision that provides immunity to individuals who attempted to comply with the new law, but did not, including the provision where sex offenders are not to be on school grounds except when dropping off/picking up their children, voting or with the consent of the principal. IASB supports the bill, which has passed the Senate and is in the House.
SF 2291 – DE Special Education Clean-up by Education
This bill makes a number of code clean-ups to the special education chapter of the Code. IASB is monitoring the bill, which is has passed both chambers and is on its way to the governor.
SF 2289 – De-accreditation Clean-up by Education
This bill makes a number of noncontroversial changes to the law on DE takeover of school districts. IASB supports the bill, which has passed the Senate and is in the House Education Committee.
SF 2288 – DE Code Clean-Up by Education
This bill makes a number of noncontroversial clean-up provisions to the Education Code. One provision added by the Senate expands the eligible uses for home school assistance program monies. This expansion does not, however, allow for indirect expenses to be assessed against the program. IASB supports the bill, which is in the House.
SF 2088 – Government Reorganization by State Government
This bill does numerous things but the major issues that impact IASB members are the make-up of the AEA boards and Empowerment. The bill has passed the Senate who concurred in most of the House Amendment and Empowerment is staying within the Department of Management. The language requiring the requiring the AEAs to have advisory committees, made of up representatives from specific stakeholder groups is still in the bill but the language on the make-up of the AEA board is still gone. IASB supports the new AEA language but is monitoring the preschool language. The Senate has passed the bill and sent their amendment to the House for its concurrence. If the House agrees with the Senate amendment, the bill will go on to the governor. If the House doesn’t agree, the bill will go to a conference committee.
HF 2485 – PERB Pre-file by Labor
This bill is the pre-filed PERB bill, which has been around for years but kept getting controversial labor issues tacked onto it. The bill, as passed by the House, is still the technical corrections bill. IASB supports the bill, which has passed the House, unanimously, and is in the Senate Labor Committee.
HF 2461 – Business Managers by Education
This bill establishes a professional business manager license for school business managers. The new license requirement is effective for new hires after July 1, 2012, and grandfathers in those business managers already practicing at that time. The bill also mandates continuing education requirements for all business managers including those grandfathered in without a license. An advisory committee will develop the license and continuing education requirements due to the Board of Educational Examiners on Dec. 31, 2010. IASB supports the bill, which has passed the House and is in the Senate Education Committee.
HF 2440 – Market Factor Incentives by Education
This bill allows school districts to use market factor pay to encourage highly effective teachers to teach in high-crime areas. IASB is monitoring the bill, which is on the House calendar.
HF 2432 – Minority Applicants by Education
This bill requires the DE and AEAs to study how to best recruit minority applicants for teaching and administrative positions. IASB is monitoring the bill, which has passed the House and is in the Senate Education Committee.
Bill Tracker
SSB 3225 – Reporting of State Penny Expenditures by Ways and Means
The subcommittee approved an amended version of a bill designed to provide accountability and assessment of how State Penny monies are being utilized. As amended, districts will be required to report the amount used for property tax relief and the amount used for infrastructure purposes. The report would be incorporated into the CAR. The subcommittee directed the DE to work with the stakeholders in how this additional information would be collected. IASB is monitoring this bill.
HF 2420 –Fair Share for State Executive Branch Employees by Labor
The bill contains fair share for employees of the executive branch of state government. The fair share provision does not currently apply to school district employees or other local governmental bodies. Numerous amendments have been filed on the bill but one of concern to IASB members is the one to broaden the scope of the bill to include all public employees. The amendment is sponsored by Rep. Mascher, D-Iowa City. Should the amendment pass, the issue of whether a union can charge non-union members a portion of dues for those activities that impact the non-union members would be a mandatory subject of bargaining. IASB has no position on fair share other than it should not be subject to collective bargaining as it is not a board issue but rather one between employees. There is a strong belief that as a result of this amendment being filed, the bill may be dead. IASB encourages its members to talk to their legislators about the impact the amendment will have on them. IASB is still monitoring the bill, which is on the House calendar.
Lobby Days
Our last Regional Lobby Day is scheduled for March 9. We will begin the day with a briefing on current education issues and will then visit the Capitol to meet with legislators. This is an incredibly powerful opportunity for you to build relationships with your legislators and tell your district's story. The Revenue Estimating Conference meets on March 11 so legislators will be starting to focus on the budget. We strongly encourage all IASB members, no matter the AEA in which you are located, to attend on this Lobby Day to ensure our needs for adequate funding are addressed. If you cannot make it on March 9, please come to the Capitol any day you can to have your voice heard. Remember, those who are not at the table may be on the menu!
March 9 - Grant Wood (AEA 10), Heartland (AEA 11), Loess Hills (AEA 13), Green Valley (AEA 14)
This opportunity is free of charge but we do ask people to register. More information is available online at http://www.ia-sb.org/EventsTraining.aspx?id=8410.
IASB Government Relations Team
Mary Gannon, mgannon@ia-sb.org
Emily Piper, emily@ialobbyresources.com
Marte Brightman, mbrightman@ia-sb.org