Bill Text: IA HF132 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to school district funding for at-risk pupils and dropout prevention programs and including applicability provisions.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-03 - Subcommittee, Dolecheck, Mommsen, and Steckman. H.J. 249. [HF132 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2015-HF132-Introduced.html

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House File 132 - Introduced




                                 HOUSE FILE       
                                 BY  STECKMAN

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to school district funding for at=risk pupils
  2    and dropout prevention programs and including applicability
  3    provisions.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    TLSB 1079HH (2) 86
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 257.11, subsection 4, Code 2015, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    4.  At=risk programs and alternative schools.
  1  4    a.  In order to provide additional funding to school
  1  5 districts for programs serving at=risk pupils and alternative
  1  6 school pupils in secondary schools, a supplementary weighting
  1  7 plan for at=risk pupils is adopted. A supplementary weighting
  1  8 of forty=eight six hundred forty=two ten=thousandths per pupil
  1  9 shall be assigned to the percentage of pupils in a school
  1 10 district enrolled in grades one through six, as reported by
  1 11 the school district on the basic educational data survey for
  1 12 the base year, who are eligible for free and reduced price
  1 13 meals under the federal National School Lunch Act and the
  1 14 federal Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. {1751=1785,
  1 15 multiplied by the budget enrollment in the school district;
  1 16 and a supplementary weighting of one hundred fifty=six
  1 17 one=hundred=thousandths two hundred four ten=thousandths
  1 18  per pupil shall be assigned to pupils included in the budget
  1 19 enrollment of the school district. Amounts received as
  1 20 supplementary weighting for at=risk pupils shall be utilized
  1 21 by a school district to develop or maintain at=risk pupils'
  1 22 programs, which may include alternative school programs, and to
  1 23 establish or maintain  approved programs for returning dropouts
  1 24 and dropout prevention under sections 257.38 through 257.41.
  1 25    b.  Notwithstanding paragraph "a", a school district which
  1 26 received supplementary weighting for an alternative high school
  1 27 program for the school budget year beginning July 1, 1999,
  1 28 shall receive an amount of supplementary weighting for the next
  1 29 three school budget years as follows:
  1 30    (1)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2000, the greater
  1 31 of the amount of supplementary weighting determined pursuant to
  1 32 paragraph "a", or sixty=five percent of the amount received for
  1 33 the budget year beginning July 1, 1999.
  1 34    (2)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2001, the greater
  1 35 of the amount of supplementary weighting determined pursuant to
  2  1 paragraph "a", or forty percent of the amount received for the
  2  2 budget year beginning July 1, 1999.
  2  3    (3)  For the budget year beginning July 1, 2002, and
  2  4 succeeding budget years, the amount of supplementary weighting
  2  5 determined pursuant to paragraph "a".
  2  6    c.  If a school district receives an amount pursuant to
  2  7 paragraph "b" which exceeds the amount the district would
  2  8 otherwise have received pursuant to paragraph "a", the
  2  9 department of management shall annually determine the amount
  2 10 of the excess that would have been state aid and the amount
  2 11 that would have been property tax if the school district had
  2 12 generated that amount pursuant to paragraph "a", and shall
  2 13 include the amounts in the state aid payments and property tax
  2 14 levies of school districts. The department of management shall
  2 15 recalculate the supplementary weighting amount received each
  2 16 year to reflect the amount of the reduction in funding from one
  2 17 budget year to the next pursuant to paragraph "b", subparagraphs
  2 18 (1) through (3). It is the intent of the general assembly that
  2 19 when weights are recalculated under this subsection, the total
  2 20 amounts generated by each weight shall be approximately equal.
  2 21    Sec. 2.  Section 257.38, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph
  2 22 1, Code 2015, is amended to read as follows:
  2 23    Boards of school districts, individually or jointly with
  2 24 boards of other school districts, requesting to use a modified
  2 25 supplemental amount amounts received as supplementary weighting
  2 26 for at=risk pupils under section 257.11, subsection 4, for
  2 27 programs for returning dropouts and dropout prevention, shall
  2 28 submit, individually or jointly with boards of other school
  2 29 districts, comprehensive program plans for the programs
  2 30 and budget costs, including annual requests for a modified
  2 31 supplemental amount for funding the programs, to the department
  2 32 of education as a component of the comprehensive school
  2 33 improvement plan submitted to the department pursuant to
  2 34 section 256.7, subsection 21. The program plans shall include:
  2 35    Sec. 3.  Section 257.40, Code 2015, is amended to read as
  3  1 follows:
  3  2    257.40  Approval of programs for returning dropouts and
  3  3 dropout prevention == annual report.
  3  4    1.  a.  The board of directors of a school district
  3  5 requesting to use a modified supplemental amount amounts
  3  6 received as supplementary weighting for at=risk pupils under
  3  7 section 257.11, subsection 4, for programs for returning
  3  8 dropouts and dropout prevention shall submit requests,
  3  9 including requests for a modified at=risk supplemental amount,
  3 10 including budget costs, if applicable, to the department not
  3 11 later than December 15 of the year preceding the budget year
  3 12 during which the program will be offered. The department shall
  3 13 review the request and shall prior to January 15 either grant
  3 14 approval for the request or return the request for approval
  3 15 with comments of the department included. An unapproved
  3 16 request for a program may be resubmitted with modifications
  3 17 to the department not later than February 1. Not later than
  3 18 February 15, the department shall notify the department of
  3 19 management and the school budget review committee of the names
  3 20 of the school districts for which programs using a modified
  3 21 supplemental amount amounts received as supplementary weighting
  3 22 for at=risk pupils under section 257.11, subsection 4, for
  3 23 funding have been approved and the approved budget of each
  3 24 program listed separately for each school district having
  3 25 an approved request.  The department shall also notify the
  3 26 department of management of the names of the school districts
  3 27 for which programs using a modified supplemental amount have
  3 28 been approved pursuant to paragraph "b".
  3 29    b.  (1)  For budget years beginning on or after July 1, 2016,
  3 30 the department shall not approve a modified supplemental amount
  3 31 for a school district for programs for returning dropouts and
  3 32 dropout prevention unless subparagraph (2) is applicable to the
  3 33 school district.
  3 34    (2)  Each school district for which the remainder of the
  3 35 amount received as supplementary weighting under section
  4  1 257.11, subsection 4, for the budget year minus the amount
  4  2 that would have been received as supplementary weighting by
  4  3 the school district for the budget year under section 257.11,
  4  4 subsection 4, Code 2015, is less than the modified supplemental
  4  5 amount received by the school district for the budget year
  4  6 beginning July 1, 2015, the department of management shall
  4  7 establish a modified supplemental amount for the budget year
  4  8 equal to the difference in the remainder and the modified
  4  9 supplemental amount received by the school district for the
  4 10 budget year beginning July 1, 2015.
  4 11    2.  Beginning January 15, 2007 2016, the department shall
  4 12 submit an annual report to the chairpersons and ranking members
  4 13 of the senate and house education committees that includes the
  4 14 ways school districts in the previous school year used modified
  4 15 supplemental amounts received as supplementary weighting for
  4 16 at=risk pupils and amounts received as the result of a modified
  4 17 supplemental amount approved under subsection 1; identifies,
  4 18 by grade level, age, and district size, the students in
  4 19 the dropout and dropout prevention programs for which the
  4 20 department approves a request; describes school district
  4 21 progress toward increasing student achievement and attendance
  4 22 for the students in the programs; and describes how the school
  4 23 districts are using the revenues from the modified supplemental
  4 24 amounts and amounts received as supplementary weighting for
  4 25 at=risk pupils to improve student achievement among minority
  4 26 subgroups.
  4 27    Sec. 4.  Section 257.41, subsection 1, Code 2015, is amended
  4 28 to read as follows:
  4 29    1.  Budget.  The budget of an approved program for returning
  4 30 dropouts and dropout prevention for a school district, after
  4 31 subtracting funds received from other sources for that purpose,
  4 32 shall be funded annually on a basis of one=fourth or more
  4 33 from the district cost of the school district and up to
  4 34 three=fourths through establishment of a modified supplemental
  4 35 amount using amounts received as supplementary weighting for
  5  1 at=risk pupils under section 257.11, subsection 4, and amounts
  5  2 received as modified supplemental amounts pursuant to section
  5  3 257.40. Annually, the department of management shall establish
  5  4 a modified supplemental amount for each such school district
  5  5 equal to the difference between the approved budget for the
  5  6 program for returning dropouts and dropout prevention for that
  5  7 district and the sum of the amount funded from the district
  5  8 cost of the school district plus funds received from other
  5  9 sources.
  5 10    Sec. 5.  Section 257.41, subsection 2, paragraph d, Code
  5 11 2015, is amended to read as follows:
  5 12    d.  Up to five percent of the total budgeted amount
  5 13 received pursuant to subsection 1 that is amounts received
  5 14 as supplementary weighting for at=risk pupils under section
  5 15 257.11, subsection 4, or that is received as a modified
  5 16 supplemental amount pursuant to section 257.40, may be used for
  5 17 purposes of providing district=wide or building=wide returning
  5 18 dropout and dropout prevention programming targeted to students
  5 19 who are not deemed at risk of dropping out.
  5 20    Sec. 6.  Section 257.41, subsection 3, Code 2015, is amended
  5 21 by striking the subsection.
  5 22    Sec. 7.  APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies to school budget
  5 23 years beginning on or after July 1, 2016.
  5 24                           EXPLANATION
  5 25 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  5 26 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  5 27    Current Code section 257.11(4) provides additional funding
  5 28 for school districts to develop or maintain programs for
  5 29 at=risk pupils, including alternative schools, through
  5 30 supplemental weighting.  This bill establishes a supplementary
  5 31 weighting of 0.0642 per pupil for pupils in grades one through
  5 32 six who are eligible for free and reduced price meals and
  5 33 establishes a supplementary weighting of 0.0204 for all
  5 34 pupils in the budget enrollment of the school district.  The
  5 35 bill provides that amounts received as the result of the
  6  1 supplementary weighting for at=risk pupils shall, in addition
  6  2 to developing and maintaining at=risk programs, be utilized by
  6  3 a school district to establish or maintain approved programs
  6  4 for returning dropouts and dropout prevention.
  6  5    Under current law, dropout prevention programs may be
  6  6 funded, in part, using a modified supplemental amount
  6  7 (previously referred to as modified allowable growth).  Current
  6  8 Code section 257.41 provides that the budget of an approved
  6  9 dropout prevention program, after subtracting funds received
  6 10 from other sources for that purpose, shall be funded annually
  6 11 on a basis of one=fourth or more from the district cost of the
  6 12 school district and up to three=fourths through establishment
  6 13 of a modified supplemental amount.
  6 14    Except for school districts meeting specified budget
  6 15 criteria relating to dropout prevention programs, the bill
  6 16 removes modified supplemental amounts as a funding source
  6 17 for dropout prevention programs and makes corresponding
  6 18 changes to other provisions of law relating to the approval
  6 19 and administration of dropout prevention programs to reflect
  6 20 a school district's authority to use amounts received as the
  6 21 result of the supplementary weighting for at=risk pupils for
  6 22 dropout prevention programs, as established in the bill.
  6 23    The bill provides that for budget years beginning on or
  6 24 after July 1, 2016, the department of education shall not
  6 25 approve a modified supplemental amount for a school district
  6 26 for programs for returning dropouts and dropout prevention
  6 27 unless certain conditions are met relating to a decrease in
  6 28 funding as compared to funding received by the school district
  6 29 as a modified supplemental amount for programs for returning
  6 30 dropouts and dropout prevention for the budget year beginning
  6 31 July 1, 2015.
  6 32    The bill applies to school budget years beginning on or after
  6 33 July 1, 2016.
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