Bill Text: IA HF154 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to voluntary diversity plans under the state’s open enrollment law.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 7-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-01-31 - Introduced, referred to Education. H.J. 163. [HF154 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-HF154-Introduced.html

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House File 154 - Introduced




                                 HOUSE FILE       
                                 BY  FISHER, SHEETS, WATTS,
                                     SALMON, HEARTSILL,
                                     GASSMAN, and BAXTER

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to voluntary diversity plans under the state's
  2    open enrollment law.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 282.18, subsection 3, Code 2017, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    3.  a.  The superintendent of a district subject to a
  1  4 voluntary diversity or court=ordered desegregation plan, as
  1  5 recognized by rule of the state board of education, may deny a
  1  6 request for transfer under this section if the superintendent
  1  7 finds that enrollment or release of a pupil will adversely
  1  8 affect the district's implementation of the desegregation order
  1  9 or diversity plan, unless the transfer is requested by a pupil
  1 10 whose sibling is already participating in open enrollment
  1 11 to another district, or unless the request for transfer is
  1 12 submitted to the district in a timely manner as required
  1 13 under subsection 2 prior to the adoption of a court=ordered
  1 14  desegregation plan by the district. If a transfer request
  1 15 would facilitate a voluntary diversity or court=ordered
  1 16 desegregation plan, the district shall give priority to
  1 17 granting the request over other requests.
  1 18    b.  A parent or guardian, whose request has been denied
  1 19 because of a court=ordered desegregation order or diversity
  1 20  plan, may appeal the decision of the superintendent to the
  1 21 board of the district in which the request was denied. The
  1 22 board may either uphold or overturn the superintendent's
  1 23 decision. A decision of the board to uphold the denial of
  1 24 the request is subject to appeal to the district court in the
  1 25 county in which the primary business office of the district
  1 26 is located. The state board of education shall adopt rules
  1 27 establishing definitions, guidelines, and a review process for
  1 28 school districts that adopt voluntary diversity plans. The
  1 29 guidelines shall include criteria and standards that school
  1 30 districts must follow when developing a voluntary diversity
  1 31 plan. The department of education shall provide technical
  1 32 assistance to a school district that is seeking to adopt a
  1 33 voluntary diversity plan. A school district implementing a
  1 34 voluntary diversity plan prior to July 1, 2008, shall have
  1 35 until July 1, 2009, to comply with guidelines adopted by the
  2  1 state board pursuant to this section.
  2  2    c.  The board of directors of a school district subject
  2  3 to voluntary diversity or court=ordered desegregation shall
  2  4 develop a policy for implementation of open enrollment in
  2  5 the district. The policy shall contain objective criteria
  2  6 for determining when a request would adversely impact the
  2  7 desegregation order or voluntary diversity plan and criteria
  2  8 for prioritizing requests that do not have an adverse impact on
  2  9 the order or plan.
  2 10                           EXPLANATION
  2 11 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  2 12 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  2 13    This bill eliminates implementation of a voluntary diversity
  2 14 plan as a reason to deny open enrollment of a pupil.  Under
  2 15 current law, a school district subject to a voluntary diversity
  2 16 plan or court=ordered desegregation plan may deny a request
  2 17 for open enrollment of a pupil from one district to another if
  2 18 the superintendent finds that the enrollment or release of the
  2 19 pupil will adversely affect the district's implementation of
  2 20 the voluntary or court=ordered plan.
  2 21    The bill further eliminates provisions directing the state
  2 22 board of education to adopt rules establishing definitions,
  2 23 guidelines, and a review process that school districts must
  2 24 follow when adopting a voluntary diversity plan and provisions
  2 25 requiring the department of education to provide technical
  2 26 assistance to school districts seeking to adopt a voluntary
  2 27 diversity plan.
  2 28    The bill also strikes obsolete language.
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