Providing for the establishment of a teacher recruitment and retention task force

This bill provides for the establishment and membership of a teacher recruitment and retention task force. The director of the department of education shall convene the 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 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. The task force shall be comprised of the director of the department of education or the director’s designee; the executive directors of the board of educational examiners and the college student aid commission or their designees; two individuals representing practitioner preparation programs at regents universities, one of whom must be employed by the university of northern Iowa; and, at a minimum, six members appointed by statewide education stakeholders, a teacher employed by a growing suburban school district, a teacher employed by a rural school district, and a teacher employed in an urban city center. 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 department of education 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, 2021.