Senate Study Bill 1012 



                                       SENATE/HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  (PROPOSED DEPARTMENT OF
                                            EDUCATION BILL)


    Passed Senate, Date               Passed House,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the compulsory school attendance age and
  2    providing effective dates.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 1224XD 83
  5 kh/rj/5

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 299.1A, Code 2009, is amended to read
  1  2 as follows:
  1  3    299.1A  COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AGE.
  1  4    A child who has reached the age of six and is under sixteen
  1  5 seventeen years of age by September 15 is of compulsory
  1  6 attendance age.  However, if a child enrolled in a school
  1  7 district or accredited nonpublic school reaches the age of
  1  8 sixteen seventeen on or after September 15, the child remains
  1  9 of compulsory age until the end of the regular school
  1 10 calendar.
  1 11    Sec. 2.  NEW SECTION.  299.14  SCHOOL DISTRICT DROPOUT
  1 12 PREVENTION MEASURES.
  1 13    1.  The board of directors of each school district shall
  1 14 take every opportunity to prevent students from dropping out
  1 15 of school.  Actions which a school district may take to
  1 16 prevent students from dropping out of school include but are
  1 17 not limited to general education interventions, alternative
  1 18 program placement, alternative school placement, provision of
  1 19 support and supplemental services, individual and family
  1 20 intervention or therapy, truancy mediation, and coordination
  1 21 with other student support services.
  1 22    2.  The board of directors of each school district shall
  1 23 make every effort to align and maximize funding streams that
  1 24 may be used to support students who have the potential to drop
  1 25 out of school.
  1 26    Sec. 3.  Section 299A.8, Code 2009, is amended to read as
  1 27 follows:
  1 28    299A.8  DUAL ENROLLMENT.
  1 29    If a parent, guardian, or legal custodian of a child who is
  1 30 receiving competent private instruction under this chapter or
  1 31 a child over compulsory age who is receiving private
  1 32 instruction submits a request, the child shall also be
  1 33 registered in a public school for dual enrollment purposes.
  1 34 If the child is enrolled in a public school district for dual
  1 35 enrollment purposes, the child shall be permitted to
  2  1 participate in any academic activities in the district and
  2  2 shall also be permitted to participate on the same basis as
  2  3 public school children in any extracurricular activities
  2  4 available to children in the child's grade or group, and the
  2  5 parent, guardian, or legal custodian shall not be required to
  2  6 pay the costs of any annual evaluation under this chapter.  If
  2  7 the child is enrolled for dual enrollment purposes, the child
  2  8 shall be included in the public school's basic enrollment
  2  9 under section 257.6.  A pupil who is participating only in
  2 10 extracurricular activities shall be counted under section
  2 11 257.6, subsection 1, paragraph "a", subparagraph (6).  A pupil
  2 12 enrolled in grades nine through twelve under this section
  2 13 shall be counted in the same manner as a shared=time pupil
  2 14 under section 257.6, subsection 1, paragraph "a", subparagraph
  2 15 (3).
  2 16    Sec. 4.  STATE MANDATE FUNDING SPECIFIED.  In accordance
  2 17 with section 25B.2, subsection 3, the state cost of requiring
  2 18 compliance with any state mandate included in this Act shall
  2 19 be paid by a school district from state school foundation aid
  2 20 received by the school district under section 257.16.  This
  2 21 specification of the payment of the state cost shall be deemed
  2 22 to meet all the state funding=related requirements of section
  2 23 25B.2, subsection 3, and no additional state funding shall be
  2 24 necessary for the full implementation of this Act by and
  2 25 enforcement of this Act against all affected school districts.
  2 26    Sec. 5.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect July 1,
  2 27 2010.
  2 28                           EXPLANATION
  2 29    This bill raises the compulsory school attendance age from
  2 30 16 to 17.  The bill requires each school district to take
  2 31 every effort to prevent students from dropping out of school,
  2 32 and to align and maximize funding streams that may be used to
  2 33 support students who have the potential to drop out of school.
  2 34    The bill includes technical amendments to eliminate a
  2 35 reference to the compulsory attendance age for purposes of
  3  1 dual enrollment.
  3  2    The bill may include a state mandate as defined in Code
  3  3 section 25B.3.  The bill requires that the state cost of any
  3  4 state mandate included in the bill be paid by a school
  3  5 district from state school foundation aid received by the
  3  6 school district under Code section 257.16.  The specification
  3  7 is deemed to constitute state compliance with any state
  3  8 mandate funding=related requirements of Code section 25B.2.
  3  9 The inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate
  3 10 the requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any
  3 11 state mandates included in the bill.
  3 12    The bill takes effect July 1, 2010.
  3 13 LSB 1224XD 83
  3 14 kh/rj/5.1