Waterloo Comm School District board approves request to seek allowable growth to cover special-education deficit

The Waterloo Comm School District board voted Sept. 23 to ask the School Budget Review Committee for allowable growth and supplemental aid to address the district’s negative special-education balance. The superintendent recommended the request after staff described rising individualized education program (IEP) counts and current staffing shortfalls.

District staff said the request — described in the meeting packet and, in discussion, as “a little over five million” — does not immediately increase the district’s revenues; it increases the district’s authority to levy for the deficit. Jeff Summerfield and special-education director Megan Allen outlined the rationale for the request and the district’s approach to serving students with complex needs.

Allen and colleague Sunny Hart told the board that the district has seen a steady increase in students with IEPs and noted 11 current vacancies in special-education positions. Staff showed district-level data comparing counts of IEPs, special-education teachers and paraprofessionals over time and said the changeover to a new IEP system (in the 2021–22 school year) has left some case-level labels and funding eligibility still being reconciled.

Presenters described the district’s multi-step identification process: classroom interventions through building Solutions teams, then referral to the AEA for evaluation with parental consent. Staff said evaluations take up to 60 days and, if eligible, teams have 30 days to write an IEP (90 days total from consent). They added that early-childhood evaluations often occur before K‑12 entry and that many of the recently identified young children were less exposed to pre‑school settings during the COVID‑19 period, increasing early intervention demand.

Board members pressed for operational detail: which rosters correspond to level‑one, level‑two and level‑three special-education placements, how vacancies affect caseload sizes, and whether the AEA charges fees. Staff said AEA timelines begin after signed parental consent and that the district’s AEA arrangements remain unchanged (no new fee‑for‑service structure), but that the AEA is still completing backlog work related to matrixing some higher‑need students after the system change.

After the discussion, a board member moved to approve the superintendent’s recommendation to request allowable growth and supplemental aid; the motion was seconded and the chair called the motion carried by voice vote.

What happens next: The district will submit the request to the School Budget Review Committee and continue local efforts to recruit special-education teachers and paraprofessionals. District staff invited board members to visit preschool and early-childhood classrooms to see staffing and service models firsthand.