Our Mission
To improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth by providing services and leadership in partnership with families, schools and communities.
Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success
The new year brings personnel changes for Iowa’s Area Education Agencies.
In December, Brent Siegrist retired from his former role as Executive Director of Iowa’s AEAs, but he will continue to support the AEAs by focusing on legislative advocacy. This change offers Iowa’s AEAs the benefit of Brent’s considerable background, knowledge and expertise in the legislative process and enhances relationships with policymakers. We are grateful for the leadership that Brent has provided for over 15 years.
Tom Lane, who has served as a legislative liaison for Iowa’s AEAs the past four years, has been named the new Executive Director. He will focus the majority of his time on coordination of our statewide work. His priority is to enhance and promote the work of Iowa’s AEAs, and he will work closely with the chief administrators, strengthen relationships with the AEA director groups (Special Education, Educational Services and Media) and continue to maintain legislative advocacy efforts. Tom’s experience as a teacher, counselor, principal and superintendent will strengthen the community building, both within Iowa’s AEAs and with other entities.
Brent and Tom have already begun to transition to these new responsibilities. We are fortunate to have the ability to capitalize on the strengths and interests of each of these professionals and to have two staff members who have the ability to complement each other and the work of Iowa’s AEAs.
On Dec. 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This legislation will impact the amount of federal income tax that is withheld from your paycheck. In general, the impact of this legislation is to reduce the amount of federal income tax withheld from your paycheck, thus increasing your net pay.
The Internal Revenue Service has released the new federal income tax withholding tables for 2018. These new tables will be used beginning with your Jan. 31, 2018 paycheck. The impact of this tax change will vary by individual, depending on your income, filing status (single or married), the number of withholding allowances you claim, etc. The Iowa state income tax withholding formula is based in part on the amount of federal income tax that is withheld from your paycheck. If your federal income tax withholding decreases, you will likely see a slight increase in the amount of state income tax withholding.
You can model the impact of this tax change through the Employee Online tab on your Employee Dashboard. In the left-hand navigation area under “Pay Check” click on “What If,” then click on “Create Baseline” in the bottom center of the screen (it may take a few seconds to calculate). This will provide a very close estimate of your Jan. 31 paycheck. You can compare this to your Jan. 12 pay stub on Employee Online to see how this tax change impacts your paycheck.
If you have any questions, contact Steve Jordan, Senior Payroll Specialist, at ext. 14908.
There have been some questions lately about how to apply for internal only job positions. For a number of months, internal positions have been posted on Applitrack, which is the same system used for the posting of external positions. When an internal position is posted, the posting includes a link to Appplitrack. To apply using Applitrack, you need to create your own unique username and password for the system if you haven’t done so already. If you have any questions about internal positions or the Applitrack system, contact Tony Chiaramonte, Human Resources Manager.
Did you know that 80% of workers polled nationally indicate they want their employer to provide financial wellness education? Consider where we are as a society today:
- 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck – Wall Street Journal
- 30% of Americans have outstanding loans on their 401ks – Business Record
- #1 cause of stress is money problems and money fights – multiple studies
Heartland AEA is excited to announce that Justin Bennett of Strong Tower Consulting is coming back to teach more financial wellness workshops in 2018. Budgeting & Planning for Emergencies will be offered at the Ames regional office! Whether you are looking to pick-up a few nuggets of information, or you need a financial overhaul, this 90-minute workshop will teach you all of the basics of how to handle your money well.
Budgeting & Planning for Emergencies Workshop
Jan. 26, 2018 3-4:30 p.m.
Ames Regional Office
Or via Zoom
Registration
RSVP by Jan. 24
The Agency’s Resource Scheduler system will be down for maintenance on Jan. 26, 2018 as we get ready to transition to a new room scheduling system called Events Scheduler. Look for more information about the Events Scheduler and its great new features in an upcoming Connection.
Each week during the Iowa legislative session, we will bring you an AEA Legislative Update from the Iowa’s AEAs legislative advocacy team.
1. Last week, Tom Lane, Kate Walton and Matt Eide focused on the operational sharing equity bill. We've made tremendous progress and only a couple of hurdles remain. It's possible our language will be added to the existing operational sharing update bill that passed the House in 2017 and is currently in the Senate.
2. Although the Republican leaders have not announced an SSA (Supplemental State Aid) figure, most analysts are estimating an increase of no more than 1%.
3. There is traction on SAVE (Secure an Advanced Vision for Education) this year. Education Appropriations Co-Chair, Rep. Cecil Dolecheck (R-Mt. Ayr), has publicly stated that he favors an extension.
4. Subcommittees were held on bills that would eliminate the Iowa Department of Education and eliminate the current desegregation plan that applies to five school districts. There was significant discussion but no votes were taken.
5. The Legislature will act on a de-appropriation bill in the very near future. The larger cuts will be focused on Medicaid, Regents institutions and community colleges.
6. We welcome the experience and expertise that Brent Siegrist will bring to us in his new role.
Linking Alternate Assessment, Essential Elements, and Quality IEPs for Literacy is a 2-day course that will help teachers, related service providers and AEA staff who support students with significant intellectual disabilities make connections between assessment, curriculum and instruction.
Participants will learn about the alternate assessment tools and resources that help match instruction to student need; how to unpack and apply essential elements to establish present levels of performance; and ways to write ambitious IEP goals, align services to needs, monitor progress and meet requirements of both alternate assessments. The five routines of literacy will be reviewed, but not explored in depth.
Linking Alternate Assessment, Essential Elements and Quality IEPs for Literacy
April 23 and 30, 2018
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Johnston Regional Education Center
Registration
You may receive a notification on your computer offering to upgrade your computer to the newest Mac operating system called macOS High Sierra. At the present time, the Agency is not ready to deploy the new operating system to staff computers. If you see the below notification on your computer, simply click the "Details" button which will open the App Store and then close out of the App Store.
Note that you may receive these messages on your computer more than once. If you accidentally click the "Install" button, don't worry, as our Internal Technology software will prevent the installer from running. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Internal Technology Department.
