Senate Study Bill 1027 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION BILL BY CHAIRPERSON EVANS) A BILL FOR An Act authorizing school districts to use revenues from 1 the district management levy for teacher recruitment and 2 retention incentives. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 1856XC (1) 91 jda/jh
S.F. _____ Section 1. Section 279.46, Code 2025, is amended to read as 1 follows: 2 279.46 Retirement incentives and teacher recruitment and 3 retention incentives tax. 4 1. The board of directors of a school district may adopt 5 a program for payment of a monetary bonus, continuation of 6 health or medical insurance coverage, or other incentives 7 for encouraging its employees to retire before the normal 8 retirement date as defined in chapter 97B . The program is 9 available only to employees who notify the board of directors 10 prior to April 1 of the fiscal year that they intend to retire 11 not later than the start of the next following school calendar. 12 The age at which employees shall be designated eligible for 13 the program shall be at the discretion of the board. An 14 employee retiring under this section subsection may apply for 15 a retirement allowance under chapter 97B or chapter 294 . The 16 board may include in the district management levy an amount to 17 pay the total estimated accumulated cost to the school district 18 of the health or medical insurance coverage, bonus, or other 19 incentives for employees fifty-five years of age or older who 20 retire under this section subsection . 21 2. a. The board of directors of a school district may 22 adopt a program for teacher recruitment incentives to recruit 23 new teachers and a program for teacher retention incentives 24 to retain teachers currently employed by the board. If the 25 board does adopt a program for teacher recruitment or retention 26 incentives, the board shall adopt a policy to implement the 27 program. Under the program, the board of directors of a school 28 district shall not do any of the following: 29 (1) Pay a teacher a teacher recruitment or retention 30 incentive that annually exceeds ten percent of the amount of 31 the salary for an initial teacher established pursuant to 32 section 284.15, subsection 2, paragraph a , subparagraph (1), 33 subparagraph division (b). 34 (2) Pay a teacher a teacher recruitment or retention 35 -1- LSB 1856XC (1) 91 jda/jh 1/ 4
S.F. _____ incentive in more than five school budget years. 1 b. The board may include in the district management levy 2 an amount to pay the total estimated accumulated cost to 3 the school district of the teacher recruitment or retention 4 incentives adopted under this subsection. 5 3. The board may adopt either the program for early 6 retirement benefits provided in subsection 1, or the programs 7 for teacher recruitment or retention incentives provided in 8 subsection 2, but the board shall not adopt the program for 9 early retirement benefits concurrently with a program for 10 teacher recruitment or retention incentives. 11 4. The board of directors of a school district shall 12 discuss the adoption of the program for early retirement 13 benefits provided in subsection 1 or the programs for teacher 14 recruitment or retention incentives provided in subsection 15 2, if applicable, at a regular or special meeting prior to 16 adopting the program. The board of directors of the school 17 district shall provide sufficient time to receive public 18 comment on the program. The board shall allow each interested 19 member of the public to speak at the meeting regarding the 20 program, but may impose a time limit on the amount of time a 21 member of the public is allowed to speak if the time limit is 22 the same for each speaker and necessary due to the amount of 23 people wishing to speak. 24 Sec. 2. Section 298.4, subsection 1, paragraph e, Code 2025, 25 is amended to read as follows: 26 e. To pay the cost of early retirement benefits to employees 27 under section 279.46 , subsection 1, or teacher recruitment or 28 retention incentives under section 279.46, subsection 2. A 29 board of directors of a school district shall not expend the 30 district management levy on the costs of early retirement 31 benefits to employees under section 279.46, subsection 1, in 32 the same fiscal year as the costs of teacher recruitment or 33 retention incentives under section 279.46, subsection 2 . 34 EXPLANATION 35 -2- LSB 1856XC (1) 91 jda/jh 2/ 4
S.F. _____ The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 1 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 2 This bill authorizes school districts to use revenues from 3 the district management levy for teacher recruitment and 4 retention incentives. 5 Currently, Code section 279.46 authorizes the board of 6 directors of a school district to adopt a program for early 7 retirement benefits to encourage its employees to retire 8 before the normal retirement date. The bill modifies Code 9 section 279.46 to also authorize the board of directors to 10 adopt a program for teacher recruitment incentives to recruit 11 new teachers and a program for teacher retention incentives 12 to retain current teachers. The bill requires the board of 13 directors to discuss the adoption of the program for early 14 retirement benefits or the program for teacher recruitment or 15 retention incentives, if applicable, at a regular or special 16 meeting prior to adopting the program and allow for public 17 comment. The bill prohibits the board of directors from paying 18 a teacher recruitment or retention incentive that annually 19 exceeds 10 percent of the amount of the salary for an initial 20 teacher established under Code section 284.15. Additionally, 21 the bill prohibits the board of directors from paying a 22 teacher recruitment or retention incentive in more than five 23 school budget years. The bill also prohibits the board of 24 directors from adopting the program for early retirement 25 benefits concurrently with the program for teacher recruitment 26 or retention incentives. In addition, the bill prohibits the 27 board of directors from adopting either the program for early 28 retirement benefits or the program for teacher recruitment or 29 retention incentives within five years after adopting the other 30 program. 31 The bill authorizes the board of directors to expend the 32 district management levy to pay the costs of either the program 33 for early retirement benefits or the program for teacher 34 recruitment or retention incentives. The bill prohibits the 35 -3- LSB 1856XC (1) 91 jda/jh 3/ 4
S.F. _____ board of directors from expending the district management 1 levy on the costs of early retirement benefits in the same 2 fiscal year as the costs of teacher recruitment or retention 3 incentives. 4 -4- LSB 1856XC (1) 91 jda/jh 4/ 4