Trending Topics
Get the information you need on some of the hot topics being talked about in Iowa. Learn more about how they may impact you. We know a lot is going on, so we wanted you to be able to find it in one place.
Special Education & Area Education Agencies (AEAs)
Governor Kim Reynolds has asked legislators to make big changes to the state's special education system, which is administered by the Area Education Agencies, or AEAs for short. Under this plan, AEAs will no longer provide media and professional development services to schools and teachers. They will no longer be governed locally, their property will be taken over by the state, and their funding will be cut by another $20.1 million. The state will govern special education, and will create a new 139-staff Division of Special Education in the Department of Education.
Schools will decide how to spend their special education funds. They can continue to contract with their local AEA or another AEA, do the work on their own, or contract directly with companies or providers to do the work. This will all change in one year. Check here to find resources to help with your advocacy.
Hope & Opportunity in Many Environments (HOME)
The US Department of Justice found Iowa is not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our state has not built up enough local capacity to serve Iowans with disabilities who are currently living in institutions.
The
Harkin Institute teamed up with
Mathematica to look at how Iowans with disabilities access and use community based services. This review included services offered by both Medicaid and Mental Health and Disability Services regions. The team talked to hundreds of Iowans before making recommendations and developing them into an action plan to make changes. That action plan is called the
Community Based Services Transformation Plan
and the state is calling the new initiative to transform the system
HOME (Hope and Opportunity in Many Environments).
HHS Service Delivery Changes
Iowa HHS has spent the last three years changing the way it's organized. The next step now is to realign the system, to make sure Iowans can find the things they need quickly and seamlessly. That means looking at all the different "service regions" that are housed in HHS, including MH/DS regions, Aging & Disability Resource Centers, local county public health agencies, child welfare regions and more.
HHS hired Health Management Associates to do this study. They met with stakeholders, reviewed the history of the delivery system, and made recommendations. The report outlines a plan to move disability services to the aging and disability services network (through expanded Aging & Disability Resource Centers) and transition the current 13 mental health regions to seven Behavioral Health Districts that would coordinate mental health, substance use and gambling, and anti-smoking initiatives. The report and proposed maps are all available now.
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This project is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $774,176 with 100 percent funding by ACL/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.