SAI Legislative Priorities for 2027

School Administrators of Iowa(SAI) is a statewide organization representing over 2000 Iowa educational administrators. The role of SAI is to support, encourage and develop Iowa's educational leaders and learners. 

The following information represents the major legislative priorities of SAI and its members for the 2027 Iowa legislative session. 

Access 2027 Legislative Priorities (Google doc)

Access 2027 Legislative Priorities Summary (Google doc)

• Supplemental State Aid (SSA)
  • SAI supports an increase in SSA for the 2027-28 school year that will provide public districts with adequate and competitive funding to meet students’ needs. This would include funds to provide appropriate teacher compensation, as well as funds to allow these districts to be competitive in hiring support staff to meet students’ needs.
  • SAI encourages the legislature to meet the statutory guidelines and set the SSA percentage in a timely manner.
    • Note:  The above two items should not be presented by legislators as an either/or option. Both timeliness and adequate/competitive funding are vital requests.
  • SAI supports legislation that would allow districts to have more flexibility in the use of public district funds. These decisions should be made at the local level to meet the needs of students in that district. 
    
    Specific Critical Education Appropriations
  • SAI supports efforts to improve or create funding streams that allow public districts to better serve students in critical need areas. This would include: at-risk students, special education students, students with brain health issues, students in poverty, English learners, talented and gifted students, and more.
    
    Property Taxes
  • SAI supports legislation that would allow local school boards the authority to fund infrastructure, school safety, technology and other projects, through PPEL, Debt levies, and SAVE.  This would include reversing the diversion of SAVE funding for property tax relief that was approved in the last session ($32M for this year and up to $121M by 2032.) In addition, Management Fund restrictions and limitations should be loosened to allow for enhanced local decision making by elected school boards. 
• Employee Recruitment & Retention

  • SAI encourages efforts to increase funding for teachers’ salaries and compensation — both for new and current teachers and support staff. This will allow districts to hire and retain quality staff in order to serve their students.

  • SAI also encourages efforts to increase flexibility in teacher licensure, as well as providing financial incentives to encourage more students and others to enter the field of education. Steps to improve the teacher pipeline at the local level should be bolstered. 

• Pre-Kindergarten Programs and Early Literacy

  • SAI supports a focus on early literacy, including fully funding 3- and 4-year-old PK programs.

• Education Savings Accounts (ESA)
  

  • SAI encourages legislation to address issues presented by the ESA law, including equity of expectations, transparency, transportation, and funds returning to public schools. 

Supplemental State Aid (SSA)

SAI supports an increase in SSA for the 2027-28 school year that will provide public districts with adequate and competitive funding to provide for student needs, and encourages the Legislature to set the SSA by the timeline required in law. 

SAI requests that the Legislature set the supplemental state aid rate within the statutory deadline of the first 30 days of the legislative session in accordance with Iowa Code so schools can properly budget and plan for FY28.

SAI requests that the supplementary state aid rate increase be set at a level that will allow districts to appropriately meet the needs of students.  The increase should be at least at or above the CPI numbers that districts are required to use in mediation proceedings for salary increases.  Also, the documented significant increases in labor costs over the last decade must be considered, as school districts spend approximately 80%(+/-) on staff to serve students.

We feel that this is necessary to outpace inflation, in addition to the impact of increased costs of supplies and labor over the past several years. Categorical funding should also be increased at the same rate as supplemental state aid.

Unfortunately, SSA funding in recent years has failed to keep pace with the rising cost of educating Iowa students. School district expenditures historically increase by 3% to 4% each year; however, costs have grown at a significantly higher rate in recent years.

Recent SSA amounts have not adequately funded our schools considering the de facto 3% settlement requirement for teaching staff and inflation rates. In addition, with low SSA, districts that have even slight declines in enrollment may experience a loss of funding that may not be reflected in lower costs for schools. Declining enrollment also has a negative impact on the ability of our districts to fund the increased pay for teachers through TSS funding. We urge legislators to reform this funding formula.

In addition, some recent years’ legislation resulted in unfunded mandates that require increased expectations and actions for school districts while providing no additional resources for the districts. A specific example from a prior session is the Math Improvement Plan legislation, as well as the increased requirements around disruptive students required by SF 2428 this past session.  This legislation substantially increases the workload at the building level with no funding to support the work. 

SAI urges the Legislature to eliminate all unfunded mandates. Also, SAI supports changes to the concurrent enrollment program that would lessen the financial load for school districts while still allowing for increased opportunities for students.

School districts continue to face a critical shortage of fully qualified teachers and support staff, partially due to the ability of the private sector to increase wages and salaries. Districts are unable to remain competitive with the private sector without increased state funding. In addition, the current inflation rates add to the pressure on districts to increase wages for all staff. Additional funding flexibility and additional local control would help districts meet these needs, as well as allowing public districts to be more competitive in hiring.

SAI requests and supports a study on the rise in school district operating costs over the last decade and its underlying causes. Additionally, we support a comprehensive study on ways to lower health insurance costs for public schools, including an evaluation of allowing school staff to join the state insurance pool.

In addition, SAI supports legislation that would allow local school boards the authority to fund infrastructure, school safety, technology and other projects, through PPEL, debt levies, and SAVE. This would include reversing the diversion of SAVE funding for property tax relief that was approved in the last session ($32M for this year and up to $121M by 2032.) In addition, Management Fund restrictions and limitations should be loosened to allow for enhanced local decision making by elected school boards. 

Critical Education Appropriations 
SAI supports efforts to improve or create funding streams that allow districts to better serve students in critical need areas. Includes: at-risk students, special education students, students with brain health needs, students in poverty, English learning students, talented and gifted, etc.

SAI supports legislation that would provide funding and resources to meet the critical needs of students in all districts. Areas of critical need would include but are not limited to:

• Special Education. SAI urges an increase in special education weighting. The weighting has not been adjusted for decades. Changes to how students with special needs are served have placed additional funding stress on special education services. Special education funding deficits are prevalent across the state as districts are required by law to provide specialized instruction to students with those needs. According to FY24 data, 296 of 325 Iowa public school districts had a special education deficit, which may have resulted in up to $256 million in additional property taxes. This is an increase of nearly $50 million from FY24. (Iowa Dept of Education). This goes back on the local taxpayers as districts need to recoup the funds that are spent on special education through property taxes, spending for services that are required by federal law.  SAI also recommends legislation that would incentivize more teachers to teach special education, and provide funding to accomplish that goal.
• At-Risk Students. Schools continue to see a large number of students who are at-risk of dropping out of school, for a variety of reasons. They may have family needs, brain health needs, and/or financial needs. We see many students who come from a background of poverty. Some districts do not have as many resources as other districts when it comes to Dropout Prevention funding, even though their needs may be the same or more than other schools.
  
  SAI supports allowing ALL school districts to establish Dropout Prevention funding at the 5% level, if they desire to do so, as a local decision.
  
  
• Students below the poverty level. Socioeconomic status does not limit any individual student. However, districts with large numbers of students in poverty have unique needs that require additional resources.  SAI supports the inclusion of socioeconomic status in the school foundation formula. Additional funding for districts with higher percentages of students living in poverty will help those districts meet the unique needs of those children.
  
  SAI also encourages a review of weighting for dual-enrolled students (home school) to allow for appropriate funding.
  
  
• English Learner students. School districts continue to attempt to meet the challenges of students who are English Learners. These students need additional support, and consequently, districts need additional resources to meet those needs. 
• Students with Brain Health needs. Limited options for providers as well as the ability to pay for services significantly hinders access to brain health services for our students. The legislature should continue to search for ways to assist with this issue. The earlier brain health needs are addressed, the less it will carry over into adulthood.
  • Suggested possible solutions for brain health needs:
    • Increase funding for Therapeutic Classrooms and adjust the process/timeline for grant-making/availability of funds, as well as providing funding that would help sustain those programs. 
    • Find ways to increase providers for children needing brain health services. 
    • Incentivize consortiums between districts to assist with mental health services.
    • Increase the weighting for Operational Sharing of social workers/providers, and/or exempting those positions from the maximum count.
    • Allow districts to increase their at-risk funding to the 5% level to provide needed resources. 
      
      SAI believes that the best financial decisions are made at the point closest to the actual process. As districts review the needs of their students, they should have flexibility in how to spend the funds that they have. We believe in local control of decision-making, particularly at the school board and administrator level. 

Back to Top

Employee Recruitment & Retention

SAI encourages efforts to increase funding for teachers’ salaries and compensation, both for new and current teachers as well as support staff. Targeted funding to help increase teacher salaries, as well as additional spending flexibility are appreciated, but more is needed.

The state of Iowa continues to experience a shortage of quality teachers and support staff. Survey data over the past few years supports this fact, and while the impact of the shortage varies geographically and demographically, it is a statewide and nationwide issue. Many districts continue to struggle to fill teaching and other positions or have been forced to fill positions temporarily. In addition, the quality of applicants has declined based on information shared by our members. There have been efforts during recent legislative sessions to assist districts in finding teachers to fill positions. Efforts to ease the burden of licensure and certification, both financially and logistically have been helpful, but many of them are band-aids and do not address the big-picture issue. There continues to be a need for measures that will help districts in hiring and retention. 

• Salary compaction (reduction in the difference between compensation for experienced teachers and compensation for those with limited experience) is an issue in many districts, and while the pay increases were greatly appreciated, compaction was left in its wake, with no additional resources allocated to address this.
• SAI encourages continuing efforts to assist with the teacher pipeline (Teacher & Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Program).
• SAI also supports measures that would provide more flexibility within the Management Fund (or other funds), offering more financial options for districts to recruit and retain staff, including the flexibility for districts to pay off student loans as well as allowing districts to use management funds for incentives to retain teachers.
• Legislative suggestions would include: specific efforts to address major shortage areas, such as tuition forgiveness for aspiring teachers. In addition, more flexibility for licensure (general certification in some areas) could assist schools in finding staff. Special Education staffing continues to be extremely difficult, compounding the issue around achievement scores for those students. 
  
  ***In both the short- and long-term, SAI favors legislation, policy, and public support that will not only provide improved compensation for all educators (including teachers, support staff, and administrators) but will also foster the respect for the education profession that is deserved. Only when we can do this, will we be able to have adequate numbers of quality individuals educating Iowa children. 

Back to Top

Pre-Kindergarten Programs and Early Literacy

SAI supports a focus on early literacy, including fully funding PK programs. 

Early Literacy programs provide children with a strong foundation for future literacy achievement. They help children develop oral language skills, an understanding of the alphabetic principle, and knowledge of print concepts. Early literacy programs also help children be kindergarten-ready, so they enter school ready to learn. In addition, successful early literacy/PK programs have a positive impact on community economic development and workforce issues.

SAI supports a focus on early literacy, including fully funding PK programs for both 3 year olds and 4 year olds. We also believe that all students and families should have an option for full-day PK attendance. We appreciate the efforts to meet the needs of families and students by collaborating with day care programs, and believe that the full-day option would assist with this immensely. Full day programming would allow PK students to experience a broader range of educational opportunities, including additional STEAM experiences.

Ideally, all PK students would be funded at the 1.0 level, but an emphasis specifically on students who live below the poverty level would be key. A plan that would phase in additional seats and funding for PK programs would be a step in the right direction.

Legislation requiring districts to work with community partners for PK programming should be reviewed and adjusted to address issues with the collaboration efforts. In addition, supports for families and teachers of children in PK programs should be developed and distributed to assist with student learning

Back to Top

Education Savings Accounts

SAI encourages legislation to address issues presented by the ESA program, including equity of expectations, transparency, transportation, and funding returning to public schools.

SAI acknowledges the enactment of HF 68 in the 2023 legislative session and recognizes it will likely remain in effect. Nonetheless, there are several concerns within the ESA system that warrant attention and should be addressed. First and foremost are the costs of that program, which continue to be above projections. In addition, SAI urges the Legislature to adjust Iowa Code in order to equalize expectations around student admission , student retention, provision of special education services, funding of concurrent enrollment courses and other policies for non-public and public schools. Issues around transparency of policy and use of funds by non-public schools, including financial reviews and audits, transfer of unused funds back to the public schools, and funds allocated to non-public student transportation expectations should be corrected. ESA funds that are received by public districts should be allowed to be placed in the general fund, rather than in categorical funding.

The use of ESAs should not be expanded, and non-public schools that accept ESAs should not be allowed to raise tuition rates, should be required to create MTSS plans for students and report out on those plans, as well be required to provide data for a full Iowa Performance Profile reports for each attendance center. This would set expectations closer to the expectations for public schools.

Back to Top