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Emergency rule revisions to Iowa Administrative Code rule 281.17 have been adopted and are currently effective. To assist school districts and school business officials in these changes, the Open Enrollment Billing Chart was updated and is now available. Changes include a breakdown of daily rates for open enrollment costs, applicable weighting, various open enrollment scenarios and the billing actions relevant to the open enrollment situation. For general open enrollment questions please contact Sara Nickel or Marietta Rives. For open enrollment billing questions please contact Scott Dryer.
School districts not currently participating in the Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SWVPP) may apply to become part of the program. The application to begin a new preschool program in 2023-2024 is now available on the Department’s website. This non-competitive application, which is due April 6, 2023, will require districts to fund the preschool program using other funding sources in 2023-2024. In the second year of SWVPP implementation, districts will receive state aid based on the number of eligible children served in year one.
For more information about the SWVPP, contact Mary Breyfogle or 515-326-1030
The link to subscribe to superintendent notes is here.
This contains course numbers and the teaching assignments. The link is here.
In the 2021 legislative session, Governor Reynolds signed House File (HF) 847 into law. The new law required the Iowa State Board of Education to create and the Iowa Department of Education (Department) to administer the Flexible Student and School Support (FS3) program, which replaces the Innovative Waiver formerly available in Iowa Code section 256.11 and rule 281—12.9. If the district plans to have students complete a year's worth of PE during one semester the district must have an approved FS3 waiver. The deadline for the waiver is May 30, 2023. This link provides additional information.
As administrators you all know that there is no right way to cancel school – whether it’s a late start, early out, or school closing altogether you will not make everyone happy. But now that school districts and accredited nonpublic schools have the option of choosing a school calendar based on days or based on hours hopefully this will provide you with more flexibility in making these difficult decisions. Now that you have more flexibility it’s time to revisit our previous guidance to school districts and accredited nonpublic schools on SNOW DAYS/HOURS, make-up days/ hours, and releases for athletic tournaments. Remember, that SNOW DAYS/HOURS and makeup days/hours are only necessary to get to the minimum amount of instructional time required under Iowa Code section 256.7(19) which is 180 days of instruction or 1080 hours of instruction. If you have the minimum amount of days or hours you are not required to make up the time. However, making up hours or days even if not needed is sound educational practice.
Question: May E-learning days be used toward the 1080 hours or 180 day minimum due to inclement weather?
Answer: No, this is not counted as instruction under Iowa Code. 281 IAC 12.1 (8) defines a day of school as a day during which the school or school district is in session and students are under the guidance and instruction of the instructional professional staff and an hour of school as an hour in which the school or school district is in session and students are under the guidance and instruction of the instructional professional staff.
Question: May a school district and accredited nonpublic school lengthen the school day to make up for days or hours missed as a result of inclement weather?
Answer: Days Calendar – No. A school days consist of a minimum of 6 hours of instructional time for all grades 1 through 12. Lengthening the day would not add to your days of school.
Hours Calendar - Yes. A school district or an accredited nonpublic school may add hours or minutes of instruction onto the beginning of the day or the end of the day to make-up time.
Question: May a school district or an accredited nonpublic school make up snow days or hours on weekends?
Answer: Yes. Whether or not you are on a days based calendar or an hours based calendar Iowa Code section 279.10 does not designate what days of the week are official "school days".
Question: A school district or an accredited nonpublic school has parent-teacher conferences planned on a Tuesday and Thursday evening yet to come in the school's calendar. Staff and students will also go to the school on Friday of that same week. May the district or school count the hours spent on parent-teacher conference Tuesday and Thursday night as another day of student instruction on Saturday (a fifth consecutive day, Tuesday through Saturday) -- even though staff and students would not attend school on Saturday?
Answer: Days Calendar – Yes. Iowa Code section 256.7(19)(b) provides for this exception as long as the five consecutive days equals 30 hours of student instruction. Remember, parent-teacher conference time counts as student instruction.
Hours Calendar –NA.
Question: May a school district or accredited nonpublic school add parent-teacher conference time that was not in the original school calendar and count that time toward student instructional days or instructional hours.
Answer: No, because those hours were not included in the schools approved calendar.
Question: May local school boards forgive snow make-up days or hours?
Answer: No, if the district/school is below the minimum of 180 days or 1080 hours. Yes, if the district/school is beyond the minimum without counting the days/hours missed. However, making up hours or days even if not needed is sound educational practice.
Question: May a school district or accredited nonpublic school get a waiver from the Department of Education to NOT make up snow days or hours.
Answer: No. The Department has no such authority.
Question: Must a school district or accredited nonpublic school make up days or hours when weather forces it to start late or let out early?
Answer: Days Calendar - No. Iowa Code section 256.7(19) states that a full day of instruction may be recorded if “emergency health or safety factors require the late arrival or early dismissal of students on a specific day.” However, a local school board could decide voluntarily to make up the time that is lost by late starts and early dismissals. Making up these days – especially if a district or school has had more than a couple of them – is sound educational practice.
Hours Calendar - No. Under the hours calendar a district is not required to make up hours as long as they meet the minimum of 1080 hours. However, a local school board could decide voluntarily to make up the time that is lost by late starts and early dismissals. Making up these hours – especially if a district or school has had more than a couple of them – is sound educational practice.
Question: If "early bird" students come to school on what becomes a "snow day" but no other students are bused to the school, may a day or hour of student instruction be counted?
Answer: No. 281 IAC 12.1(10) states that "A day or hour of attendance shall be a day or hour during which students were present and under the guidance and instruction of the instructional professional staff. In addition, all grade levels of the school or school district must be operated and available for attendance by all students.
Question: Does a school district or accredited nonpublic school have to run the buses to count the day as a day of student instruction or an hour as an hour of student instruction?
Answer: Yes. Not only do the buses have to run, but students also need to be "under the guidance and instruction of the instructional professional staff." All grade levels of the school or school district must be operated and available for attendance by all students. This implies that students must be in classes for some period of time prior to early release. See 281 IAC 12.1(10) and Iowa Code section 285.1(8). OAG #93-11-8.
Question: Do seniors have to make up "snow days"?
Answer: This is a local decision. Iowa Code 279.10 states, "the school district or accredited nonpublic school may excuse a graduating senior who has met district or school requirements for graduation from attendance during the extended school calendar." NOTE, however, that rule 281—IAC 12.1(7) requires that there be a board policy to excuse seniors from making up “snow days.”
Question: If a school district or accredited nonpublic school closes due to health reasons (e.g., influenza contagion), does it follow the "snow days" rules?
Answer: Days Calendar - Yes. Full days that are missed must be made up if the district does not have 180 days of instruction. If a school district or accredited nonpublic school has early dismissal or late start due to emergency health issues, the district may count the day as a full instructional day if on a days based calendar. Remember also that if just a classroom or attendance center is closed for emergency health or safety reasons, while the remainder of the district is in operation, the day may be counted as a day of school
Hours Calendar - Yes. Hours that are missed must be made up if the district does not have 1080 hours of instruction. If a school district or accredited nonpublic school has early dismissal or late start due to emergency health issues, the district may count the hours of attendance if on an hours based calendar. Remember also that if just a classroom or attendance center is closed for emergency health or safety reasons, while the remainder of the district is in operation, the hours may be counted as an hour of school.
Question: May a school district or accredited nonpublic school let out school for athletic tournaments and other competitions and still count the day as a day of student instruction or an hour as an hour of student instruction?
Answer: Days Calendar - Yes, but only if the district keeps each building open and available for attendance by all students, and students in all grade levels are "under the guidance and instruction of the instructional professional staff" as described in 281 IAC 12.1(8). The answer is “no” if an attendance center or district is closed.
Hours Calendar - Yes, but only if the district keeps each building open and available for attendance by all students, and students in all grade levels are "under the guidance and instruction of the instructional professional staff" as described in 281 IAC 12.1(8). The answer is “no” if an attendance center or district is closed.
Question: Can the Governor forgive snow days?
Answer: Under Iowa law, the Governor doesn’t have the legal authority to forgive snow days. State law requires schools to hold class for a minimum of 1,080 hours or 180 school days per school year.
Question: Do school districts need to have a public hearing before making changes to the school calendar in order to meet 1080 hours or 180 days in the event of snow days?
Answer: Iowa Code section 279.10 requires that a School District hold a public hearing on any proposed calendar prior to adopting it. As such, a School District should also hold a public hearing on any proposed changes to the school calendar that are necessary to meet the minimum of 1080 hours or 180 days prior to its adoption. The reason for this is that it allows parents an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes. A public hearing should provide notice and an opportunity to be heard. Districts may locally determine how to accomplish this.
Question: Do schools need to make-up preschool hours missed due to snow days?
Answer: This is a local determination. It is always good educational practice to make-up hours or days of instruction that are missed.
Nominate a great mathematics/science/engineering/computer science teacher today. Do it before it is too late. Deadline before Jan 9th! More information can be found here. Please contact April Pforts for mathematics/computer science and Chris Like for science/engineering.
The Department has recently experienced an increase in phishing attempts via email and text,
including some fairly sophisticated methods that use Department leadership names or requests
as part of the lure.
Please know that staff at the Department will NEVER text or email you requesting unexpected
file transfers, financial transactions or asking that you download materials. If you receive a
suspicious communication from anyone at the Department of Education, please reach out to
your contact separately (do not forward the suspicious message) and keep in mind the following
safeguards:
- Double check that the sender’s email address or phone number matches who they claim
to be.
- Don’t click a link or download an attachment from an email or text message from
someone you don’t know or that you weren’t expecting.
- Don’t reply to a suspicious email or text message.
- Don’t forward a suspicious email or text message.
- Be aware of some of the top phishing subject lines:
○ Change of password required immediately
○ Billing information is out of date
○ Delay in payroll
○ Your meeting attendees are waiting
○ Confidential information
○ Updated vacation policy
○ Dropbox: Document shared with you
○ Attention: unusual account activity detected
○ Urgent/Important
More information about phishing and social engineering attacks can be found here.
The annual upload for the Secondary Career and Technical Reporting Application (SCTERA) courses in a program begins January 2, 2023 and is to be completed by January 31, 2023 (SCTERA work must be
completed before a district can certify their SRI file). A state initiative in Iowa’s Perkins V state plan is the reporting of student participation in work-based learning courses. Please refer to the following resources for
how to report your work-based learning courses:
Reporting District Work-Based Learning
The first step is uploading a complete and finished 2022-2023 Student Reporting in Iowa (SRI) file, then following the SCTERA Reporting guidance handbook found here.
Note: SRI cannot be certified until SCTERA is completed. The Bureau of Career and Technical Education will be holding a virtual ZOOM training webinar to walk through the steps on how to complete the report. This training
webinar will be held Wednesday, January 4, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Click here to register for this webinar.
Drop-in office hours are scheduled for assistance and Q & A. Please contact Matt Eddy or
515-720-8863 with any questions.
January 5, 7:30 a.m. – 8:20 a.m.
January 12, 3:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
January 19, 7:30 a.m. – 8:20 a.m.
January 26, 3:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
For questions, contact Dr. Jeffrey Fletcher or 515-321-7309.
The Department's work-based learning webinar series continues with three additional webinars offered in January and February. These work-based learning webinars provide key frameworks for building quality work-based learning programs at the district level. Click on the webinar title to register.
Questions about work-based learning courses, program development, reporting and meeting expectations should be directed to Kristy Volesky, Work-Based Learning Consultant at the Iowa Department of Education or by phone, 515-971-0669.
The Iowa Department of Education is excited to announce the 2023 Computer Science Professional Development Week (CSPDWeek) is scheduled for June 12-16, 2023 at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. Computer Science education continues to evolve and grow, so we are happy to once again develop and host this high-quality professional development opportunity.
Please share this interest survey across your districts with all administrators, counselors and K-12 staff that will help shape the events for the week! This event is essentially FREE to attendees and more information will be coming soon.
For questions, contact Justin Lewis or 515-669-7007.
Want to get regular content updates related to curriculum, instruction and professional development opportunities? The Department offers several newsletters that provide regular updates in these areas. Sign up at:
The U.S. Department of Energy is making $500 million in grant funding available to help K-12 public schools make critical energy upgrades through their Schools and Nonprofits Program within the State and Community Energy Program.
K-12 schools consume about 8% of all the energy used in commercial buildings nationwide and energy consumption is the second-highest operational expense schools face. The goal of the program is to improve air quality for students and educators, while reducing energy costs and freeing up local funds to invest more in education.
What can you do?
The U.S. Department of Energy is accepting applications for the Renew America’s Schools Grant. Concept Papers are the first step of applying and must be submitted by 5:00p.m. ET January 26, 2023 to be eligible for funding. Funds will help school districts to make upgrades that will lower facilities’ energy costs and foster healthier learning environments for students. Learn how to submit papers HERE.
Add your email HERE to receive future updates about Grants for Energy Improvements at Public School Facilities.
The U.S. Department of Energy is compiling a list of questions that will be answered in a publicly available spreadsheet. To submit a question, please email schoolsFOA@doe.gov. This spreadsheet will be posted on the announcement page and updated on a weekly basis.
The Alternate English Language Proficiency Assessment, or Alt ELPA21, is scheduled to become operational in the Spring of 2023. English learners with the most significant cognitive disabilities are expected to take the Alt ELPA21 assessment to measure their progress in learning English.
Students participating in the Alt ELPA21 will meet the state's annual English language testing requirement, and as a result, will not be expected to take the general ELPA21 summative assessment.
The Alt ELPA21 is aligned to the ELP Standards for ELs with Significant Cognitive Disabilities. This set of standards guides classroom instruction and forms the basis of the test's design. For more information, see Iowa's Guidance: Alternate English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century.
Your help is requested to ensure “exempt” schools in your district have filed the necessary paperwork with the Iowa Department of Education. Iowa Code section 299.24 provides for an exemption from the compulsory education law and the educational standards law for members of established religious denominations which profess tenets that differ substantially from these laws. A one-year renewal may be requested by each religious group desiring to do so.
If you are aware of schools within your district that may meet the definition of an exempt school and may not have filed for an exemption, please contact Holly Barnes or 515-669-8157 or ask a representative of the school to contact the Department of Education
The Visiting Teachers from Spain Program is an exciting venture between the Iowa Department of Education and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Spain (MECS). The purpose of the Exchange Visitor Program is to promote cultural and educational exchange between citizens of the United States and those of other countries. Local school districts and accredited nonpublic schools have the opportunity to fill vacant Spanish and dual language teaching positions for up to 3 years. Teachers are hired in accordance with all other local policies in terms of salary scale, licensure, and local system requirements. The Iowa Department of Education will be taking applications for the 2023-2024 school year from January 16 to March 17, 2023. Go to the Visiting Teachers from Spain webpage to find information about the program and the application. Applications are due March 17, 2023. For more information, contact Isbelia Arzola at or 515-326-5962.
Thousands of talented Iowa educators lead and inspire their students every day, but only one is chosen annually as the state’s ambassador to education. This award is an opportunity to recognize an exceptional Iowa teacher who is respected by their community, their peers and students and is helping to redefine education. Nominations will be accepted from anyone, including students, parents, school administrators, colleagues, college faculty members, and associations (self-nominations, and nominations from family members are not accepted).
If you would like to nominate an exemplary teacher, who meets the criteria above, please use the nomination form found on the Department of Education’s website. The deadline for nominations is April 1, 2023.
For additional information about the Teacher of the Year program, please contact Marietta Rives.
It is the policy of the Iowa Department of Education not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, political party affiliation, or actual or potential parental, family or marital status in its programs, activities, or employment practices as required by the Iowa Code sections 216.9 and 256.10(2), Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d2000e), the Equal Pay Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 206, et seq.), Title IX (Educational Amendments, 20 U.S.C.§§ 1681 – 1688), Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq.). If you have questions or complaints related to compliance with this policy by the Iowa Department of Education, please contact the legal counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, Grimes State Office Building, 400 E. 14th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319-0146, telephone number: 515-281-5295, or the Director of the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, John C. Kluczynski Federal Building, 230 S. Dearborn Street, 37th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604-7204, telephone number: 312-730-1560, FAX number: 312-730-1576, TDD number: 800-877-8339, email: OCR.Chicago@ed.gov
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