Newton superintendent skeptical of governor’s AEA proposal

Skepticism from school leaders and Iowa lawmakers about Gov. Kim Reynolds’ initial plan to rework the state’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) to solely focus on students with disabilities has resulted in an amended proposal that is still garnering criticism and concerns, and it could likely affect Newton schools.

Newton Superintendent Tom Messinger understands why the state wants to review the structure and services provided by the AEAs, but he wishes lawmakers and the governor would start by looking at the services the schools need and then figure out how to still provide those services.

“Instead, with the original proposal it kind of felt like, ‘Well, we don’t feel things are working, and so we’re going to completely dismantle it without regard to what services we need,’” Messenger said to Newton News in a Jan. 19 interview discussing his thoughts on the governor’s AEA bill.

In Reynolds’ condition of the state address, the governor acknowledged concerns about the state cutting services families depend on. Reynolds said the claim is “categorically false” and the state is not reducing special education funding by one dime. However, AEAs provide more than just services for special education.

Newton regularly utilizes a reading consultant from Heartland AEA, for instance. Leaving out core general education services is partly why Messinger is not convinced the original bill would do much good for Iowa school districts. On Jan. 19, Reynolds announced she would make a change to the bill.

“Under my bill, AEAs will continue providing special education services as they do now, including Early ACCESS and Child Find. But state and federal special education funds will be controlled by Iowa’s public school districts,” she said. “I’m also proposing schools get their share of AEA funding for education services.”

Prior to the change, Messinger said if the Newton Community School District wanted to still receive support services previously provided by its AEA, then the district would have to pay a consulting fee to private businesses since AEAs would only be allowed to provide services related to special education.

“With the governor’s amendment to the bill, those services could still be received by the AEA, I believe, on a cost basis, if you have permission from the Iowa Department of Education,” Messinger said. “So the Iowa Department of Education would have control over everything now.”

Messinger is curious what the approval process will be like for the Department of Education. If it requires school districts to make a plan at the beginning of the year to determine what AEA services they wish to utilize, Messinger would be very much against it. Schools may not know what kind of support is needed.

Although Messinger felt sorry for using the recent shooting at Perry High School as an example, AEAs did quickly respond for support services. The AEAs, he said, coordinate crisis teams and reunification teams to make sure students get reunited back to their parents and provide counseling.

“They still have people in the Perry school district from the AEA providing those services, and we’re a couple weeks after it,” he said. “If you had to have in your plan at the beginning of the year what services you’re going to use the AEA for, no school is probably going to write that into their plan.”

How often does Newton use its AEA for services? Messinger said all the time.

In addition to the reading consultant, the school district uses AEA services to help with professional development, the culture council and the legally required community needs assessment, among other things. Messinger said a private business offered to complete Newton’s assessment for a hefty fee.

“The AEA did that for us and did not change,” Messinger said. “That’s a huge deal to me. We know we’re still going to need some of those supports in place. If we have to go out and find them on our own, the price is a lot heavier than what the AEA charges, which is nothing.”

In a Jan. 17 post, two days before the governor amended her original bill, Iowa House Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, announced after much consideration and conversation he could not support the proposal. Dunwell said he is also working with his four superintendents to assist him in evaluating any new proposals.

Messinger confirmed he has been discussing the AEA bills with Dunwell and has been solicited for feedback from the lawmaker.

Reynolds said in her condition of the state that AEAs — there are nine regional entities in the state — operate without meaningful oversight and that the current system operates with little room for accountability. Messinger disagreed with the rhetoric that AEAs are not regularly reviewed or evaluated.

In fact, AEAs have to go through a similar accreditation process as schools. Heartland AEA, which is the agency Newton utilizes, was reviewed as early as two years ago by the Iowa Department of Education. According to the report, the agency met all standards and it was recommended its accreditation continue.

Interviewees in the report spoke highly of Heartland AEA’s supports for curriculum development, instruction and assessment, professional development and diverse learners such students with disabilities, English learners and gifted and talented. Messinger said these services and more would be missed.

“There are a lot of things that we utilize them for that if it were gone we would definitely miss, and under the governor’s original bill we were going to get no money to go out and pay for those services on our own,” Messinger said.