Government : Hello, Iowa House District 84 from the State Capitol!

On Thursday, March 21st, the Iowa House passed an amended and final version of House File 2612, the AEA bill that the Senate will now consider basically in its current form. This bill does a lot of good things for teachers, paraprofessionals, and schools that should produce the primary goal of helping the students.

There have been some misconceptions about this bill, for example that it will "dismantle AEAs". It will not do that. Here are some of the significant highlights:

n HF 2612 requires school districts to use the AEAs for special education services with no disruptions for these services.

n This bill does not terminate any AEA employees.

n AEAs will still perform any of the services they do now.

n A task force will be formed that will look for ways to improve services and provide oversight and improve special education.

n This bill increases the minimum teacher pay to $47,500 in the first year, then $50,000 in the second year. This will put Iowa's minimum teacher salary at fifth highest in the nation. Teachers with 12 or more years of experience will receive at least $62,000 after year two of this bill if signed into law.

n Retired teachers can return to teaching after just one month of retirement with no effect to their IPERS benefits. They can be valuable substitute teachers!

n This bill allocates an additional $14 million for paraprofessionals. These important positions are difficult to fill or keep filled, so this extra funding will help.

n Even though the SSA is 2.5%, the additional money for salaries and school safety will be the equivalent of over 5%!

n AEA chiefs' salaries cannot be above 125% of the average superintendent salaries in their region. Currently, there are 9 chiefs that make around $300,000 annually.

The bill's floor manager, Representative Skyler Wheeler, has a daughter that is autistic and uses the AEA for her. Rep. Chad Ingels from Fayette County has two children with Down Syndrome and also uses the AEA. If you're interested, please watch his moving speech about the bill here: https://fb.watch/r0O4v7dVvZ/. These two representatives would NEVER take away services that help their own families and neither would I! There are superintendents and AEA employees around the state that support this bill to improve AEAs, not dismantle them.

In other bills, the House passed HF2649, which reinstates the capital gains tax deduction for the sale of breeding stock and prevents a tax increase on farmers. We also passed SF 2340 and now goes to the governor's desk for her signature. This bill creates new laws and increases penalties to illegal aliens reentering the state of Iowa. Iowa has every right to defend its citizens from the disastrous illegal open border created by Biden administration.

Visitors to the Capitol representing Farm Bureau included Al Schafbuch of Dysart and Michael Hopper of Vinton.

Have a safe week, be careful out there, and hope you have a wonderful Holy Week and Easter!