DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa's Area Education Agencies have lost over 400 staff members since last school year, according to new numbers sent out by state Democrat legislators on Thursday. It comes after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed major AEA reforms into law this spring.
Under the new law, school districts are required to use at least 90% of special education funds to contract special education services from a local AEA, beginning on July 1, 2025. The remaining 10% of funds can be kept within the district. In addition, beginning July 1, 2024, AEAs will receive only 40% of funds related to media and general education services, with school districts receiving 60% of those funds.
Beyond making changes to AEAs, the law will also increase teachers' salaries to $47,500 beginning July 1, 2024, and then to $50,000 a year later.
The law led some AEA staff members to find new jobs and has been the subject of much controversy. The new staffing report, compiled by the state's AEAs and sent to lawmakers earlier this month, shows that there are 429 fewer staff members for the 2024-25 school year. All nine of the state's AEAs are working with a reduced staff.
Here's a breakdown of the numbers:
- Central Rivers AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 562
- 2024-25 staffing: 494
- Difference: 68 staff members, or a 12.10% change
- Grant Wood AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 526
- 2024-25 staffing: 442
- Difference: 84 staff members, or a 15.97% change
- Great Prairie AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 254
- 2024-25 staffing: 226
- Difference: 28 staff members, or an 11.02% change
- Green Hills AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 311
- 2024-25 staffing: 274
- Difference: 37 staff members, or an 11.90% change
- Heartland AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 755
- 2024-25 staffing: 674
- Difference: 81 staff members, or a 10.73% change
- Keystone AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 235
- 2024-25 staffing: 213
- Difference: 22 staff members, or a 9.36% change
- Mississippi Bend AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 311
- 2024-25 staffing: 278
- Difference: 33 staff members, or a 10.61% change
- Northwest AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 279
- 2024-25 staffing: 247
- Difference: 32 staff members, or an 11.47% change
- Prairie Lakes AEA
- 2023-24 staffing: 244
- 2024-25 staffing: 200
- Difference: 44 staff members, or an 18.03% change
"No one asked for these changes. No one wanted these changes," Iowa Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum said during a press conference. "As legislators, we were absolutely inundated by emails and phone calls from all across the state, from parents, from educators, you name it. They were calling and contacting us. But Republicans refused to even listen to anything they were saying."
The law saw strong support from Iowa Republicans, who sent the following statement regarding the new staffing numbers.
"There has been a lot of misinformation about the final AEA bill," Iowa House Republicans Communications Director Melissa Saitz said in an email. "One of the most important things to understand is that no money is leaving the system. The difference is that school districts will get more control over more of their money to determine how best to provide the necessary services. This change will introduce some accountability to the system. With these changes, our goal was to protect special education services and make improvements that would result in better outcomes for students. Iowa students deserve the very best.”