Education Appropriations & Funding
A summary of all appropriations for FY 2025. School finance uses its own language—use this breakdown of key budget terms and concepts to better understand appropriations legislation. Check out our Flexibility for Categorical Fund Usage document for a full summary of all flexibility bills from the 2024 legislative session.
SF 2435—Education Appropriations: The bill provides a total general fund appropriation of $1.018 billion for FY 2025. It is an overall Increase of $35.4 million (3.6%) compared to FY 2024. Additionally, the bill provides overall FY 2025 General Fund appropriations to the Department of Education (including K-12 programs and Community Colleges) totaling $442.2 million, an increase of $23.0 million (5.5%). Major changes include:
An increase of $1.0 million (17.5%) for the Department of Education Administration.
An increase of $123,600 (20.7%) for Career Technical Education Administration.
An increase of $500,00 (5.5%) for Jobs for America’s Grads (IJAG).
An increase of $7.0 million (3.1%) for Community College General Aid.
An increase of $2865,500 (2.5%) for the Iowa School for the Deaf.
An increase of $119,900 (2.5%) for Education Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
An increase of $150,000 (54.5%) for Future Ready Iowa Skilled Workforce Grant Program.
An increase of $1.3 million (2.5%) to the standing appropriation of the Tuition Grant Program.
An increase of $2,700 (2.5%) to the For-profit Tuition Grant Program.
A new appropriation of $10.0 million for the Department of Education’s Special Education Division. This appropriation amount corresponds to an additional $10.0 million reduction to the AEAs in SF 2443 (Standings Appropriation Act).
A new appropriation of $2.2 million for Professional Development. This appropriation amount corresponds to the elimination of $2.2 million in professional development to the AEAs in HF 2612 (Area Education Agencies).
Several other line items have an impact on K-12 schools:
Within the University of Northern Iowa’s budget, Educators for Iowa: $1.5 million appropriation. This money could be used to pay stipends or provide tuition reimbursement for teacher prep students who are student teaching.
Therapeutic Classroom Incentive Fund: $2.3 million appropriation
Therapeutic Classroom Transportation Claims Reimbursement: $500,000
Teach Iowa Scholar: $650,000 appropriation. This money is used to provide student loan repayment to teachers.
IASB is registered undecided on the( bill. We are supportive of things like therapeutic classroom funding and reinstating the open enrollment request deadline but have concerns about the new requirements on districts related to addressing chronic absenteeism. It passed the Senate by a vote of 32-14 and passed the House by a vote of 52-43. The bill was signed into law by Governor Reynolds on May 9, 2024.
SF 2443—Standing Appropriations: This bill encompasses several areas, but there are a few items of interest to school districts and public education:
Appropriates $14.0 million to supplement non-salaried education staff for FY 2025 only. These funds will be considered miscellaneous income and not calculated into a district’s combined district cost. Funds will be distributed on a per-capita basis based on budget enrollment after reporting salary and other information to be determined by the DE. It is unknown if this appropriation will be ongoing in future budget years.
Still no state funding for Instructional Support. This was last funded by state aid in FY 2011.
The additional AEA cuts were increased by another $2.9 million this year, bringing the total cut to the AEAs to $32.5 million ($7.5 statutory, $15.0 million usual cut, $10.0 million corresponding with DE increase for Special Education Division).
Clarifying language on years of experience as it relates to minimum salary requirements. Teachers with 12 years of experience as of July 1, 2024 will have a minimum salary of $60,000 and those with 12 years of experience as of July 1, 2025 will have a minimum salary of $62,000.
IASB is registered undecided on the bill. We appreciate the education support personnel funding but would prefer it be an ongoing appropriation, so districts can increase those salaries permanently. The additional AEA cuts cause more uncertainty about their ability to provide all the services they currently do. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 31-14 and passed the House by a vote of 56-36. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on May 9, 2024.
HF 2691—Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund (RIIF) Appropriations: This budget includes money for administrative projects at many state departments, including $600,000 from the Technology Reinvestment Fund (TRF) for continued development and implementation of an educational data warehouse that teachers, administrators, parents, and AEA staff can use.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 47-0 and passed the House by a vote of 57-35. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on May 9, 2024.
SF 2421—Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations: This budget bill has one line item of interest to school districts. There is $200,000 appropriated for a Choose Iowa Food Purchasing Pilot Project. This allows a school district not already participating in a farm-to-school program to be reimbursed for purchases of food products originating from a farm source.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 33-14 and passed the House by a vote of 79-12. Governor Reynolds signed the bill into law on May 9, 2024.
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