The Iowa Legislature is continuing to look at bills regarding proposed changes to Area Education Agencies (AEAs).

District 24 Senator Jesse Green (R-Boone) says the current Senate bill empowers school boards to know how much money is being spent on AEA services and if they want to change that funding, they can in terms of services they believe the district needs within the AEAs. Senator Green talks about one part of the bill that he thinks there are concerns about.

“The sticking point that’s been there all along has been in regards to some of the oversight. Some of the oversight that would shift to the Department of Education. I would say that’s probably the weakest part of the bill as far as how much support there is in both chambers.”

Greene County School District Superintendent Brett Abbotts explains how he feels about the legislation and where it currently stands in both chambers.

“I’m a lot happier with where it is now than where it was. One of the big things that I really appreciate about the bill is that school districts will get control over the money that they should be receiving from a federal and state level for special education services. It’ll allow us to, if we want to still send our money to the AEAs we can certainly do that or we can contract with another AEA if needed.”

Green is confident that no AEA services will be changed or adjusted this year.