Our Mission
To provide services and leadership, in partnership with families, schools and communities, that improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth.

Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success

Johnston REC HVAC Remodel Updates

Plans for the HVAC remodel at the Johnston REC remain on schedule and will begin right around February 1. 

There will be two opportunities for staff to tour the West Des Moines Campus, which will temporarily house our agency meetings and activities during the remodeling project. Dustin Gean will be available on the following dates and times for staff members to come to the West Des Moines Campus (815 8th Street) for a short tour and for him to answer any questions. 
• January 24, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. 
• January 29, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. 

The REC building will be closed the week of March 15-22. No one will be allowed in the building during this week, and there will be no van delivery to schools. During this week, mail delivery and sorting will take place at the Administration Center. Receiving will not be impacted, and items to be shipped can be dropped off at the Administration Center. If REC staff members are able to take some time off during this week, they are encouraged to do so. If staff will be working during that week, there will be hotel space available at the West Des Moines Campus and remote workplace options when approved by your supervisor. 

During the remodeling project, Sherise Ahlers (Central Office Administrative Assistant), Aaron Cook (Video/Multimedia Support Specialist) and Greg Wilcox (Technology Support Specialist) will be on-site at the West Des Moines Campus to provide support for meetings and activities. Anyone who is moving there for the duration (including Sherise, Aaron and Greg) will move his or her phone with him or her. Those phones will work like any extension within our agency phone system. We will also take a limited number of phones to serve as “checkout” phones that can be checked out from Aaron or Greg. 

Calls for the West Des Moines Campus during the regular day should come to our main (515) 270-9030 number and then get transferred to Sherise, Aaron or Greg as needed. For weekend events at West Des Moines, each PD instructor or meeting leader should send a message to their group indicating that if you need to call that facility, you should dial (515) 270-9030 then Sherise's extension (14437), and that will ring at the front desk.

Annual Eligibility Notice for Retirement Investors’ Club 403(b) Plan

What is a 403(b)?
It is a voluntary retirement savings program similar to 401(k) programs offered by private companies. You are eligible to participate in the 403(b) program sponsored by Heartland AEA. The amount you choose to invest is taken from your paycheck pre-tax (before state and federal taxes are computed) and deposited into your 403(b) account. Your 403(b) contributions and earnings are available at retirement to supplement your IPERS and Social Security income benefits. You will be taxed on 403(b) withdrawals. 

What is a Roth 403(b)? 
It is similar to other Roth programs in that your contributions are made with after-tax dollars. Your contributions and earnings accumulate tax-free and are available to supplement your IPERS and Social Security income benefits.

Heartland AEA is making the 403(b) and Roth 403(b) program available to you through the State of Iowa’s 403(b) Plan, commonly referred to as the Retirement Investors’ Club (RIC). Effective January 1, 2014, you have the option to select between six providers: 

• Horace Mann 
• ING 
• Mass Mutual (formerly Hartford) 
• Security Benefit 
• TIAA-CREF
• VALIC 

• The minimum contribution per pay period, as dictated by our providers, is $10 per pay period. 
• You have the option of traditional pre-tax contributions and/or post-tax Roth contributions. You should work with your financial advisor to determine what is best for your retirement planning. If you want to model the effect of the tax savings from a pre-tax investment, go to the Employee Online tab on your Employee Dashboard and click on the “What If” calculator and enter the amount of your pre-tax deduction. This will show you how making the deduction on a pre-tax basis will affect your paycheck. The post-tax Roth investment is designed to offer tax savings at the time of withdrawal and not at the time of investment. 
• You can change the amount of your contribution 12 times per year (at the beginning of each month). All changes received by the end of a month will be effective at the beginning of the following month. For example, a change submitted between January 1–31 will be effective on your February 15 paycheck. 
• The Agency does not offer matching funds, but it is still very beneficial for you to start saving for retirement, even if you are only able to start with a small amount. 
• In 2014, the maximum amount you may contribute per year is 100% of your compensation up to $17,500. Also, if you have at least 15 years of service with Heartland AEA or you are at least 50 years old, you may also be able to make additional catch-up contributions. 

To start your contributions, contact one of the RIC’s investment providers. Contact information is on the RIC’s website at http://ric.iowa.gov/403b/index.html. On the left side of the page, click on Providers and Investments. Clicking on the Advisor button to the right of each provider will give you a list of agents who are authorized to sell their products. The agent can send you enrollment information, and at your request, will schedule an appointment to discuss your individual financial goals. Click here to download Heartland AEA’s enrollment form, which is also archived on the Intranet. 

If you have any questions, contact Steve Jordan, Senior Payroll Specialist, at sjordan@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14908.

Printing Issue on Some 2013 W-2 Forms

Your 2013 W-2 form has been mailed to your home address and is also available on Employee Online. There was a form alignment issue on some of the printed W-2 forms. While all the wage/tax numbers are readable, some of this information partially covers some of the box headings on the form. 

If you feel your W-2 form is unacceptable, you can print a copy from Employee Online or contact Steve Jordan (sjordan@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14908) or Tammy Lawrence (tlawrence@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14422) in the Payroll Department for a replacement copy. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Three More Schools Added to Approved Abbreviations List

In addition to the list of district abbreviations for expenses in the January 5th Connection, the Agency is adding the following districts to the approved list of abbreviations:

Bondurant-Farrar: BF 
Lynnville-Sully: LS 
North Polk: NP 

Click here for an updated list of approved abbreviations.

External Calendar Up and Running on Agency Website

The Agency’s external calendar is up and running on our agency website. It can be accessed by clicking on the link in the upper right hand corner of the homepage called “Calendar.” The calendar is an embedded Google calendar so events can easily to be copied to personal Google calendars. It is still a work in progress and may not include all our PD events, but it will provide our stakeholders with a good representation of what events are taking place around the Agency. If you have any questions about this calendar, contact the Communications Department at comms@heartlandaea.org.

2013 Condition of Education Report Released

The Iowa Department of Education released the latest edition of the Annual Condition of Education report. The report provides a wide range of state-level data, including shifts in student populations and demographics, teacher salaries and characteristics, student achievement results and school financial information. Click here for a summary and a link to the full document.

Iowa Dept. of Education Announces Iowa Core Commission

Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck announced a new state commission to help ensure Iowa’s academic standards for what students should know and be able to do from kindergarten through 12th grade are put into practice successfully in schools statewide. 

The Iowa Core Commission is an advisory group of 21 Iowans, including teachers, school administrators, education associations, higher education leaders, business leaders and Iowa Department of Education staff members. This group’s work will focus on strengthening a statewide implementation plan and improving communication from the state level to local schools. 

The Iowa Core standards establish what students are expected to learn in mathematics, English/language arts, science and social studies from kindergarten through 12th grade. Iowa was the last state in the nation to adopt statewide standards in 2008. State legislators led this shift away from locally determined standards, which had caused inconsistent expectations in schools across the state. The Iowa Core standards reflect real-world knowledge and skills that students need to graduate from high school prepared for success in post-secondary education and training. 

Implementation of the standards is an ongoing process led locally by schools and school districts with assistance from the Iowa Department of Education and area education agencies. The process will continue well beyond the legislatively mandated deadlines for full implementation, which are the 2012-13 school year for high schools and 2014-15 for kindergarten through eighth grades. 

The new commission’s work falls in line with Iowa’s role in a consortium of rural states to successfully put into practice statewide standards. The state consortium, which also includes Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, is working with consulting firm Education Delivery Institute through a grant funded by the Council of Chief State School Officers, an association of state school chiefs. 

Representing the AEAs on the Commission are Joe Crozier, chief administrator, Grant Wood AEA; Roark Horn, chief administrator, AEA 267 and Sue Runyon, school improvement facilitator-math, Keystone AEA.

Johnston REC to be Staffed During Weekend Activities

The Agency is pleased to announce that in order to better serve our clients, the Johnston REC will now be staffed on weekends when classes and other activities are being held. 

Classified Union staff members were given the opportunity to apply for the Weekend Facilities Support assignment opportunity, and all who applied will be trained for the position. The position will create a welcoming, helpful and safe atmosphere for visitors as well as assist them with resource needs such as technology troubleshooting.

AEA Legislative Update

Click here to read the first update of the 2014 Iowa legislative session from the AEA system’s lobbyists, Matt Eide, John Pederson and Tom Lane. We plan to bring you these updates weekly throughout the legislative session.

The Facts About Education Funding – A Team Approach

The Joint Education Allowable Growth Group (IASB, UEN, AEAs, SAI, ISEA) developed an action plan to address Iowa’s declining education funding and the need for consistent growth in the annual spending rate (as well as the need to set the rate consistent with law). A weekly “Fact About Education Funding” will be sent to all legislators, Gov. Branstad and Dept. of Education Director Buck highlighting a pertinent fact about education spending in Iowa. Each week this link will be shared in The Connection. Here are the first few that have been generated. 

Iowa Per Pupil Funding Compared to U.S. 

Student Need is Increasing While Funding Lags: The Poverty Example

Heartland AEA Area Legislator Contact Sheet

Click here for a list of the contact information for all Iowa House and Senate members in Heartland AEA’s area. The sheet has been updated to reflect the recent changes in Senate District 13 and House District 25. Legislators are also listed by district in the back pages.

Updated Special Education Procedures Manual & Release Notes Available

The new Special Education Procedures Manual and Special Education Procedures Manual Release Notes, both dated January 15, 2014, are now posted on the Iowa IDEA website at www.iowaideainfo.org. These documents are currently posted on the front page of the IDEA website in addition to their permanent location under the IEP downdrop menu > Statewide Special Education Procedures > Manual. 

If you have any questions, contact Misty Christensen, Regional Director/Assistant Director of Special Education, at mchristensen@heartlandaea.org.

Update on Parent Summary of the Educational Evaluation

Beginning January 15, 2014, when an Educational Evaluation Report (EER) is printed in the web system, a Parent Summary of the EER is also produced. Please note the Parent Summary draws from text that practitioners enter in the EER. There are no extra items and no additional input is required on any practitioner’s behalf to produce the summary. 

Within the EER in the Web IEP program, a red “H” denotes the items from which text is drawn for the Parent Summary document. Additionally, page 391 of the AEA Special Education Procedures Manual (January 15, 2014) outlines information about the Parent Summary. Staff may review pages 392-393 of the AEA Special Education Procedures Manual to see a complete example of a Parent Summary. 

Within the AEA Special Education Procedures Manual and accompanying release notes (both dated January 15, 2014), direction is given to follow your AEA’s guidance for use of this summary. At Heartland AEA, practitioners will provide the Parent Summary in conjunction with the full Educational Evaluation Report. Practitioners are not to provide the Parent Summary without the full EER. 

If for any reason an EER is modified after it has been supplied to parents, please remember to reprint the EER and Parent Summary and provide the revised copies to parents.

Reminder: Medicaid Q & A Session Jan. 22

Please join us January 22, 2014 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Conference Room 13A at the Johnston Regional Education Center for a presentation by our MJCare representatives regarding updates to the online billing system. Following a short presentation, the MJCare reps will be available to answer questions from staff regarding billing and the new system. Join via Adobe Connect at http://iowa.adobeconnect.com/medicade_training/. The session will be taped and will be made available for viewing at a later date as well.

IFAS System Down the Evening of Jan. 24 Until Noon on Jan. 27

The IFAS system will not be available this weekend due the application of a system upgrade. The system will be taken offline at 5:00 p.m. Friday, January 24 and will not be available until noon Monday, January 27. This includes all functions available via the IFAS Dashboard along with the Applicant Online system available on the agency website. If you have any questions or concerns, contact Rod Howell, Information Systems Manager, at rhowell@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14599.

Four More Google Basics Trainings Added in January

Four more Google “Basic” trainings will be held on Jan. 24 & 28 at the Johnston REC. The training will cover the basics for using Google Mail, Calendar and Contacts. Topics covered will include managing your email, such as filing, deleting, composing and covering Gmail settings. Calendar topics include, sharing your calendar, creating an event, inviting participants to an event, adding a coworker’s calendar and covering Calendar settings. Contacts will include managing contacts, creating distribution lists, sharing a distribution list and importing a distribution list. You can sign up for either a morning or afternoon session, and please bring a laptop and charger to the training. 

January 24 
9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 
IN058992111401 

January 24 
1:00-4:00 p.m. 
IN058992111402 

January 28 
9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. 
IN058992111403 

January 28 
1:00-4:00 p.m. 
IN058992111404