Relating to education, including examinations administered to students by higher education institutions providing practitioner preparation, obligations of the department of education increasing the salary of initial teachers, modifying provisions related to endorsements issued by the board of educational examiners, and the use of certain specified school district moneys, and making appropriations

This bill relates to education, including examinations administered to students by higher education institutions providing practitioner preparation, obligations of the department of education (DOE), increasing the salary of initial teachers, modifying provisions related to endorsements issued by the board of educational examiners (BOEE), and the use of certain specified school district moneys. DIVISION I —— ELIMINATION OF PRACTITIONER PREPARATION PROGRAM TESTING REQUIREMENTS. Current law requires the BOEE to adopt rules related to higher education institutions providing practitioner preparation that authorize the institutions to administer a preprofessional skills test offered by a nationally recognized testing service to practitioner preparation program admission candidates and that require the institutions to administer certain specified assessments to students prior to a student’s completion of the practitioner preparation program. The bill strikes both of these requirements and makes conforming changes. DIVISION II —— STUDENT TEACHER GRANT PROGRAM AND INCREASE OF INITIAL TEACHER SALARY. The bill requires the DOE to establish a student teacher grant program to allow school districts to compensate Iowa residents who are fulfilling the requirements associated with the student teaching experience. The bill authorizes a school district to apply to the DOE for a grant under this program.15 (Iowa teacher compensation framework), prorated based on the hours the Iowa resident devotes to the student teaching experience at the school district. The bill appropriates $7 million to the student teacher grant program from FY 2022-2023. The bill provides that moneys received by a school district under the student teacher grant program shall be miscellaneous income for purposes of Code chapter 257 (financing school programs) and shall be deposited in the general fund of the school district. The bill also provides that the moneys shall not be included in district cost. Currently, Code chapter 284 (teacher compensation) provides that the minimum annual salary for an initial teacher who has successfully completed an approved practitioner preparation program or holds an initial or intern teacher license issued by the board of educational examiners shall be at least $33,500. The bill increases this minimum annual salary to $40,000. The bill makes conforming changes to Code chapter 257 (financing school programs). For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022, and for each succeeding fiscal year, the bill appropriates from the general fund of the state to the DOE to distribute to school districts an amount necessary to ensure that the annual compensation school districts provide to teachers is no less than $3,000 less than the national average teacher salary for the preceding school year calculated by the national education association. The bill provides that moneys received by a school district pursuant to this provision shall be miscellaneous income for purposes of Code chapter 257 (financing school programs) and shall be deposited in the general fund of the school district. The bill also provides that the moneys shall not be included in district cost. DIVISION III —— ENDORSEMENTS. The bill requires the BOEE to adopt rules to limit the credit hours required to obtain any endorsement to no more than eight credit hours and to allow individuals to complete the requirements associated with obtaining an endorsement within five years after applying for the conditional endorsement. The bill provides that a person employed as a practitioner is not required to hold an endorsement for the type of service for which the person is employed if the person has been employed as a practitioner for at least years or the person holds a master’s or doctoral degree that is related to the type of service for which the person is employed.46 authorizes the board of directors of a school district to adopt a program for early retirement benefits to encourage its employees to retire before the normal retirement date.46 to also authorize the board of directors to adopt a program for reimbursing teachers no more than percent of the teacher’s cost to obtain an endorsement issued by the BOEE. The bill authorizes the board to expend the district management levy to pay the costs of this endorsement reimbursement program. DIVISION IV —— TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION TASK FORCE. The bill requires the director of the DOE to convene a task force to conduct a study of teacher recruitment and retention that includes but is not limited to an examination of the reasons individuals fail to enter or complete practitioner preparation programs or avoid certain subject areas in practitioner preparation programs; the reasons teachers fail to apply for teaching positions in certain geographic or subject areas; recent efforts to recruit or incentivize potential teachers; independent, high-quality research conducted and published to improve education policy and practice; and the reasons teachers leave the profession or are attracted to other fields. The bill establishes the composition of the membership of the task force. The goal of the task force is to identify measures to improve teacher recruitment and retention efforts, increase marketing and incentives to attract to or to keep individuals in the teaching profession, and develop measures to support teachers in achieving a successful life-long teaching career. To the extent possible, appointments shall be made to provide geographical area representation and to comply with Code provisions relating to political and gender balance and to minority and young adult representation on appointive boards. The DOE and the regents’ practitioner preparation institutions shall provide staff assistance and administrative support to the task force. The task force shall submit its findings and recommendations in a report to the governor and the general assembly by November 30, 2022. The bill appropriates $50,000 from the general fund of the state to the DOE for the purposes of convening and providing assistance and administrative support to the teacher recruitment and retention task force. DIVISION V —— TEACHER APPRECIATION ACTIVITIES. The bill provides that, notwithstanding any limitations in Code chapter 68B (government ethics and lobbying), the board of directors of a school district may expend moneys from the school district’s flexibility account within its general fund to support reasonable teacher and staff appreciation activities if all full-time teachers and staff members are invited to participate in the activity.2 (school districts’ flexibility accounts).