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IA SF520

IA SF520
A bill for an act relating to education, including by modifying provisions related to community college and department of education reporting requirements, employees of the Iowa educational services for the blind and visually impaired program or the Iowa school for the deaf, and employment contracts between community colleges and community college instructors.(Formerly SSB 1075.)


summary

Introduced
03/05/2025
In Committee
Crossed Over
Passed
Dead

Introduced Session

91st General Assembly

Bill Summary

This bill relates to education, including by modifying provisions related to community college and department of education (DE) reporting requirements, employees of the Iowa educational services for the blind and visually impaired program or the Iowa school for the deaf, and employment contracts between community colleges and community college instructors. DIVISION I —— REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. Current law requires the state board of education to adopt rules directing the community colleges to submit certain specified data from the most recent fiscal year to the community colleges bureau using criteria determined by the community colleges bureau. The bill modifies these provisions to instead require the data to be submitted directly to DE. The bill makes several other modifications related to data submitted by the community colleges to DE, and related to data submitted by DE to the state board and the general assembly, including modifications related to the information to be included in the annual condition of community colleges report. DIVISION II —— IOWA EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PROGRAM AND THE IOWA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF. The bill provides that Code section 279.27 (discharge of a teacher) applies to employees of the Iowa educational services for the blind and visually impaired program and employees of the Iowa school for the deaf, whether or not licensed by the board of educational examiners, who are responsible for the care, instruction, or supervision of children. The bill requires the department of administrative services, in consultation with DE, to establish an annual compensation schedule applicable to all employees of the Iowa educational services for the blind and visually impaired program and all employees of the Iowa school for the deaf and to set the employee benefits for such employees. DIVISION III —— COMMUNITY COLLEGE INSTRUCTORS —— EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS. Current Code section 279.13 (contracts with teachers —— automatic continuation —— initial background investigations) provides that for purposes of Code sections 279.13, 279.14 (evaluation criteria and procedures), 279.15 (notice of termination —— request for hearing), 279.16 (private hearing —— decision —— record), 279.19 (probationary period), and 279.27 (discharge of teacher), the term “teacher” includes instructors employed by a community college but does not include adjunct instructors employed by a community college. The bill modifies Code section 279.13 to provide that, for purposed of these Code sections, an instructor or faculty member who provides instruction to students enrolled in the community college that results in community college credit hours for the students, and such instruction constitutes more than one-half of the instructor’s or faculty member’s workload, is a teacher; however, neither an adjunct instructor, a continuing education instructor, nor a noncredit instructor is a teacher. The bill defines “continuing education instructor” and “noncredit instructor”.

AI Summary

This bill makes several modifications to education-related laws in Iowa across three main divisions. In the first division, the bill changes reporting requirements for community colleges, mandating that they submit individual-level fiscal year data directly to the Department of Education (DE) instead of the community colleges bureau, and requiring the DE to incorporate various data reports into an annual condition of community colleges report to be reviewed by the state board and general assembly by March 15 each year. The second division addresses employees of the Iowa educational services for the blind and visually impaired program and the Iowa school for the deaf, expanding termination and discharge procedures to apply to all employees responsible for children's care or instruction, and requiring the department of administrative services to establish an annual compensation schedule and employee benefits in consultation with DE. The third division modifies employment contract provisions for community college instructors, defining "teacher" more narrowly to include only instructors who provide more than half of their workload in credit-bearing instruction, and introducing new definitions for "continuing education instructor" and "noncredit instructor" to clarify which types of instructors are covered by certain employment contract regulations. These changes aim to streamline reporting processes, clarify employment standards, and provide more precise categorization of educational personnel.

Sponsors (0)

No sponsors listed

Other Sponsors (1)

Education (Senate)

Last Action

Withdrawn. S.J. 852. (on 04/22/2025)

bill text


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