256.9 - DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.
256.9 DUTIES OF DIRECTOR.
Except for the college student aid commission and the public
broadcasting board and division, the director shall:
1. Carry out programs and policies as determined by the state
board.
2. Recommend to the state board rules necessary to implement
programs and services of the department.
3. Establish divisions of the department as necessary or
desirable in addition to divisions required by law. The organization
of the department shall promote coordination of functions and
services relating to administration, supervision, and improvement of
instruction.
4. Employ personnel and assign duties and responsibilities of the
department. The director shall appoint a deputy director and
division administrators deemed necessary. They shall be appointed on
the basis of their professional qualifications, experience in
administration, and background. Members of the professional staff
are not subject to the merit system provisions of chapter 8A,
subchapter IV, and are subject to section 256.10.
5. Transmit to the department of management information about the
distribution of state and federal funds pursuant to state law and
rules of the department.
6. Develop a budget and transmit to the department of management
estimates of expenditure requirements for all functions and services
of the department.
7. Accept and administer federal funds apportioned to the state
for educational and rehabilitation purposes and accept surplus
commodities for distribution when made available by a governmental
agency. The director may also accept grants and gifts on behalf of
the department.
8. Cooperate with other governmental agencies and political
subdivisions in the development of rules and enforcement of laws
relating to education.
9. Conduct research on education matters.
10. Submit to each regular session of the general assembly
recommendations relating to revisions or amendments to the school
laws.
11. Approve, coordinate, and supervise the use of electronic data
processing by school districts, area education agencies, and merged
areas.
12. Act as the executive officer of the state board.
13. Act as custodian of a seal for the director's office and
authenticate all true copies of decisions or documents.
14. Appoint advisory committees, in addition to those required by
law, to advise in carrying out the programs, services, and functions
of the department.
15. Provide the same educational supervision for the schools
maintained by the director of human services as is provided for the
public schools of the state and make recommendations to the director
of human services for the improvement of the educational program in
those institutions.
16. Interpret the school laws and rules relating to the school
laws.
17. Hear and decide appeals arising from the school laws not
otherwise specifically granted to the state board.
18. Prepare forms and procedures as necessary to be used by area
education agency boards, district boards, school officials,
principals, teachers, and other employees, and to insure uniformity,
accuracy, and efficiency in keeping records in both pupil and cost
accounting, the execution of contracts, and the submission of
reports, and notify the area education agency board, district board,
or school authorities when a report has not been filed in the manner
or on the dates prescribed by law or by rule that the school will not
be accredited until the report has been properly filed.
19. Determine by inspection, supervision, or otherwise, the
condition, needs, and progress of the schools under the supervision
of the department, make recommendations to the proper authorities for
the correction of deficiencies and the educational and physical
improvement of the schools, and request a state audit of the accounts
of a school district, area education agency, school official, or
school employee handling school funds when it is apparent that an
audit should be made.
20. Preserve reports, documents, and correspondence that may be
of a permanent value, which shall be open for inspection under
reasonable conditions.
21. Keep a record of the business transacted by the director.
22. Endeavor to promote among the people of the state an interest
in education.
23. Classify and define the various schools under the supervision
of the department, formulate suitable courses of study, and publish
and distribute the classifications and courses of study and promote
their use.
24. Direct area education agency administrators to arrange for
professional teachers' meetings, demonstration teaching, or other
field work for the improvement of instruction as best fits the needs
of the public schools in each area.
25. Cause to be printed in book form, during the months of June
and July in the year 1987 and every four years thereafter, if deemed
necessary, all school laws then in force with forms, rulings,
decisions, notes, and suggestions which may aid school officers in
the proper discharge of their duties. A sufficient number shall be
furnished to school officers, directors, superintendents, area
administrators, members of the general assembly, and others as
reasonably requested.
26. Direct that any amendments or changes in the school laws,
with necessary notes and suggestions, be distributed as prescribed in
subsection 25 annually.
27. Approve the salaries of area education agency administrators.
28. Develop criteria and procedures to assist in the
identification of at-risk children and their developmental needs.
29. Develop, in conjunction with the child development
coordinating council or other similar agency, child-to-staff ratio
recommendations and standards for at-risk programs based on national
literature and test results and Iowa longitudinal test results.
30. Develop programs in conjunction with the center for early
development education to be made available to the school districts to
assist them in identification of at-risk children and their
developmental needs.
31. a. Conduct or direct the area education agency to conduct
feasibility surveys and studies, if requested under section 282.11,
of the school districts within the area education agency service
areas and all adjacent territory, including but not limited to
contiguous districts in other states, for the purpose of evaluating
and recommending proposed whole grade sharing agreements requested
under section 282.7 and section 282.10, subsections 1 and 4. The
surveys and studies shall be revised periodically to reflect
reorganizations which may have taken place in the area education
agency, adjacent territory, and contiguous districts in other states.
The surveys and studies shall include a cover page containing
recommendations and a short explanation of the recommendations. The
factors to be used in determining the recommendations include, but
are not limited to:
(1) The possibility of long-term survival of the proposed
alliance.
(2) The adequacy of the proposed educational programs versus the
educational opportunities offered through a different alliance.
(3) The financial strength of the new alliance.
(4) Geographical factors.
(5) The impact of the alliance on surrounding schools.
b. Copies of the completed surveys and studies shall be
transmitted to the affected districts' school boards.
32. a. Develop standards and instructional materials to do
all of the following:
(1) Assist school districts in developing appropriate before and
after school programs for elementary school children.
(2) Assist school districts in the development of child care
services and programs to complement half-day and all-day kindergarten
programs.
(3) Assist school districts in the development of appropriate
curricula for all-day, everyday kindergarten programs.
(4) Assist school districts in the development of appropriate
curricula for the early elementary grades one through three.
(5) Assist prekindergarten instructors in the development of
appropriate curricula and teaching practices.
b. Standards and materials developed shall include materials
which employ developmentally appropriate practices and incorporate
substantial parental involvement. The materials and standards shall
include alternative teaching approaches including collaborative
teaching and alternative dispute resolution training. The department
shall consult with the child development coordinating council, the
state child care advisory council, the department of human services,
the state board of regents center for early developmental education,
the area education agencies, the department of child development in
the college of family and consumer sciences at Iowa state university
of science and technology, the early childhood elementary division of
the college of education at the university of Iowa, and the college
of education at the university of northern Iowa, in developing these
standards and materials.
c. For purposes of this section "substantial parental
involvement" means the physical presence of parents in the
classroom, learning experiences designed to enhance the skills of
parents in parenting and in providing for their children's learning
and development, or educational materials which may be borrowed for
home use.
33. Develop, or direct the area education agencies to develop, a
statewide technical assistance support network to provide school
districts or district subcontractors under section 279.49 with
assistance in creating developmentally appropriate programs under
section 279.49.
34. Administer and approve grants to school districts which
provide innovative in-school programming for at-risk children in
grades kindergarten through three, in addition to regular school
curricula for children participating in the program, with the funds
for the grants being appropriated for at-risk children by the general
assembly. Grants approved shall be for programs in schools with a
high percentage of at-risk children. Preference shall be given to
programs which integrate at-risk children with the rest of the school
population, which agree to limit class size and pupil-teacher ratios,
which include parental involvement, which demonstrate community
support, which cooperate with other community agencies, which provide
appropriate guidance counseling services, and which use teachers with
an early childhood endorsement. Grant programs shall contain an
evaluation component that measures student outcomes.
35. Develop a model written publications code including
reasonable provisions for the regulation of the time, place, and
manner of student expression.
36. Provide educational resources and technical assistance to
schools relating to the implementation of the nutritional guidelines
for food and beverages sold on public school grounds or on the
grounds of nonpublic schools receiving funds under section 283A.10.
37. Explore, in conjunction with the state board of regents, the
need for coordination between school districts, area education
agencies, regents institutions, and community colleges for purposes
of delivery of courses, use of telecommunications, transportation,
and other similar issues. Coordination may include, but is not
limited to, coordination of calendars, programs, schedules, or
telecommunications emissions.
38. Develop an application and review process for approval of
administrative and program sharing agreements between two or more
community colleges or a community college and an institution of
higher education under the board of regents entered into pursuant to
section 260C.46.
39. If funds are appropriated by the general assembly for the
program, administer the teacher exchange program, develop forms for
requests to participate in the program, and process requests from
teacher participants for reimbursement of expenses incurred as a
result of participating in the program.
40. Develop in-service and preservice training programs through
the area education agencies and practitioner preparation institutions
and guidelines for school districts for the establishment of family
support programs. Guidelines developed shall describe barriers to
learning and development which can affect children served by family
support programs.
41. Serve as an ex officio member of the commission of libraries.
42. a. Grant annual exemptions from one or more of the
minimum education standards contained in section 256.11 and rules
adopted by the state board of education to nonpublic schools or
public school districts who are engaging in comprehensive school
transformation efforts that are broadly consistent with the current
standards, but require exemption from one or more standards in order
to implement the comprehensive school transformation effort within
the nonpublic school or school district. Nonpublic schools or public
school districts wishing to be exempted from one or more of the
minimum standards contained in section 256.11 and rules adopted by
the state board of education shall file a request for an exemption
with the department. Requests for exemption shall include all of the
following:
(1) A description of the nonpublic school or public school
district's school transformation plan, including but not limited to
new structures, methodologies, and creative approaches designed to
help students achieve at higher levels.
(2) Identification of the standard or standards for which the
exemption is being sought, including a statement of the reasons for
requesting the exemption from the standard or standards.
(3) Identification of a method for periodic demonstration that
student achievement will not be lessened by the granting of the
exemption.
b. The director shall develop a procedure for application for
exemption and receipt, review, and evaluation of nonpublic school and
public school district requests, including but not limited to
development of criteria for the granting or denying of requests for
exemptions and a time line for the submission, review, and granting
or denying of requests for exemption from one or more standards.
43. Develop and administer, with the cooperation of the
department of veterans affairs, a program which shall be known as
operation recognition. The purpose of the program is to award high
school diplomas to veterans of World War I, World War II, and the
Korean and Vietnam conflicts who left high school prior to graduation
to enter United States military service. The department of education
and the department of veterans affairs shall jointly develop an
application procedure, distribute applications, and publicize the
program to school districts, accredited nonpublic schools, county
commissions of veteran affairs, veterans organizations, and state,
regional, and local media. All honorably discharged veterans who are
residents or former residents of the state; who served at any time
between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918, at any time between
September 16, 1940, and December 31, 1946, at any time between June
25, 1950, and January 31, 1955, or at any time between February 28,
1961, and May 5, 1975, all dates inclusive; and who did not return to
school and complete their education after the war or conflict shall
be eligible to receive a diploma. Diplomas may be issued
posthumously. Upon approval of an application, the department shall
issue an honorary high school diploma for an eligible veteran. The
diploma shall indicate the veteran's school of attendance. The
department of education and the department of veterans affairs shall
work together to provide school districts, schools, communities, and
county commissions of veteran affairs with information about hosting
a diploma ceremony on or around Veterans Day. The diploma shall be
mailed to the veteran or, if the veteran is deceased, to the
veteran's family.
44. Reconcile, with the assistance of the community colleges,
audited financial statements and the financial data submitted to the
department. The reconciliation shall include an analysis of funding
by funding source.
45. Develop core knowledge and skill criteria, based upon the
Iowa teaching standards, for the evaluation, the advancement, and for
teacher career development purposes pursuant to chapter 284. The
criteria shall further define the characteristics of quality teaching
as established by the Iowa teaching standards. The director, in
consultation with the board of educational examiners, shall also
develop a transition plan for implementation of the career
development standards developed pursuant to section 256.7, subsection
25, with regard to licensure renewal requirements. The plan shall
include a requirement that practitioners be allowed credit for career
development completed prior to implementation of the career
development standards developed pursuant to section 256.7, subsection
25.
46. Disburse, transfer, or receive funds as authorized or
required under federal or state law or regulation in a manner that
utilizes electronic transfer of the funds whenever possible.
47. Develop and implement a comprehensive management information
system designed for the purpose of establishing standardized
electronic data collections and reporting protocols that facilitate
compliance with state and federal reporting requirements, improve
school-to-school and district-to-district information exchanges, and
maintain the confidentiality of individual student and staff data.
The system shall provide for the electronic transfer of individual
student records between schools, districts, postsecondary
institutions, and the department. The director may establish, to the
extent practicable, a uniform coding and reporting system, including
a statewide uniform student identification system.
48. Prepare and submit to the chairpersons and ranking members of
the senate and house education committees a report on the state's
progress toward closing the achievement gap, including student
achievement for minority subgroups, and a comprehensive summary of
state agency and local district activities and practices taken in the
past year to close the achievement gap.
49. a. Develop and make available to school districts,
examples of age-appropriate and research-based materials and lists of
resources which parents may use to teach their children to recognize
unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances, to not make unwanted
physical and verbal sexual advances, to effectively reject unwanted
sexual advances, that it is wrong to take advantage of or exploit
another person, about the dangers of sexual exploitation by means of
the internet including specific strategies to help students protect
themselves and their personally identifiable information from such
exploitation, and about counseling, medical, and legal resources
available to survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault, including
resources for escaping violent relationships. The materials and
resources shall cover verbal, physical, and visual sexual harassment,
including nonconsensual sexual advances, and nonconsensual physical
sexual contact. In developing the materials and resource list, the
director shall consult with entities that shall include, but not be
limited to, the departments of human services, public health, and
public safety, education stakeholders, and parent-teacher
organizations. School districts shall provide age-appropriate and
research-based materials and a list of available community and
web-based resources to parents at registration and shall also include
the age-appropriate and research-based materials and resource list in
the student handbook. School districts are encouraged to work with
their communities to provide voluntary parent education sessions to
provide parents with the skills and appropriate strategies to teach
their children as described in this subsection. School districts
shall incorporate the age-appropriate and research-based materials
into relevant curricula and shall reinforce the importance of
preventive measures when reasonable with parents and students.
b. Make available scientifically based research studies in
the area of health and wellness literacy for use by school districts
and nonpublic schools in educating students. The content shall
include but not be limited to research on instructional materials and
teaching strategies that have proven effective in teaching students
the knowledge and skills included in paragraph "a" and section
256.11. School districts are encouraged to incorporate as much of
this material as practical.
50. Develop Iowa standards for school administrators, including
knowledge and skill criteria, and develop, based on the Iowa
standards for administrators, mentoring and induction, evaluation
processes, and professional development plans pursuant to chapter
284A. The criteria shall further define the characteristics of
quality administrators as established by the Iowa standards for
school administrators.
51. Establish and maintain a process and a procedure, in
cooperation with the board of educational examiners, to compare a
practitioner's teaching assignment with the license and endorsements
held by the practitioner. The director may report noncompliance
issues identified by this process to the board of educational
examiners pursuant to section 272.15, subsection 3.
52. a. Develop and distribute, in collaboration with the area
education agencies, core curriculum technical assistance and
implementation strategies that school districts and accredited
nonpublic schools shall utilize, including but not limited to the
development and delivery of formative and end-of-course model
assessments classroom teachers may use to measure student progress on
the core curriculum adopted pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26.
The department shall, in collaboration with the advisory group
convened in accordance with paragraph "b" and educational
assessment providers, identify and make available to school districts
end-of-course and additional model end-of-course and additional
assessments to align with the expectations included in the Iowa core
curriculum. The model assessments shall be suitable to meet the
multiple assessment measures requirement specified in section 256.7,
subsection 21, paragraph "c".
b. Convene an advisory group comprised of education
stakeholders including but not limited to school district and
accredited nonpublic school teachers, school administrators, higher
education faculty who teach in the subjects for which the curriculum
is being adopted, private sector employers, members of the boards of
directors of school districts, and individuals representing the
educational assessment providers. The task force shall review the
national assessment of educational progress standards and assessments
used by other states, and shall consider standards identified as best
practices in the field of study by the national councils of teachers
of English and mathematics, the national council for the social
studies, the national science teachers association, and other
recognized experts.
53. Submit an annual report to the general assembly by January 1
regarding activities, findings, and student progress under the core
curriculum established pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 26. The
annual report shall include the state board's findings and
recommendations.
54. Convene, in collaboration with the department of public
health, a nutrition advisory panel to review research in pediatric
nutrition conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods by
recognized professional organizations and agencies including but not
limited to the institute of medicine. The advisory panel shall
submit its findings and recommendations, which shall be consistent
with the dietary guidelines for Americans published jointly by the
United States department of health and human services and department
of agriculture if in the judgment of the advisory panel the
guidelines are supported by the research findings, in a report to the
state board. The advisory panel may submit to the state board
recommendations on standards related to federal school food programs
if the recommendations are intended to exceed the existing federal
guidelines. The state board shall consider the advisory panel report
when establishing or amending the nutritional content standards
required pursuant to section 256.7, subsection 29. The director
shall convene the advisory panel by July 1, 2008, and every five
years thereafter to review the report and make recommendations for
changes as appropriate. The advisory panel shall include but is not
limited to at least one Iowa state university extension nutrition and
health field specialist and at least one representative from each of
the following:
a. The Iowa dietetic association.
b. The school nutrition association of Iowa.
c. The Iowa association of school boards.
d. The school administrators of Iowa.
e. The Iowa chapter of the American academy of pediatrics.
f. A school association representing parents.
g. The Iowa grocery industry association.
h. An accredited nonpublic school.
i. The Iowa state education association.
j. The farm-to-school council established pursuant to section
190A.2.
55. Monitor school districts and accredited nonpublic schools for
compliance with the nutritional content standards for foods and
beverages adopted by the state board in accordance with section
256.7, subsection 29. School districts and accredited nonpublic
schools shall annually make the standards available to students,
parents, and the local community. A school district or accredited
nonpublic school found to be in noncompliance with the nutritional
content standards by the director shall submit a corrective action
plan to the director for approval which sets forth the steps to be
taken to ensure full compliance.
56. Develop and implement a plan to provide, at least twice
annually to all principals and guidance counselors employed by school
districts and accredited nonpublic schools, notice describing how
students can find and use the articulation information available on
the website maintained by the state board of regents. The plan shall
include suggested methods for elementary and secondary schools and
community colleges to effectively communicate information about the
articulation website to the following:
a. To all elementary and secondary school students interested
in or potentially interested in attending a community college or
institution of higher education governed by the state board of
regents.
b. To all community college students interested in or
potentially interested in admission to a baccalaureate degree program
offered by an institution of higher education governed by the state
board of regents.
57. Grant to public school districts and accredited nonpublic
schools waivers from statutory obligations with which the entities
cannot reasonably comply within two years after a disaster as defined
in section 29C.2, subsection 1.
58. Report to the general assembly annually by January 1,
beginning January 1, 2010, about the necessity of waiving any
statutory obligations for school districts, as authorized under
section 256.7, due to a disaster as defined in section 29C.2,
subsection 1. The department's report shall specify each waiver and
the determination for granting each waiver. The department shall
provide the report to the speaker of the house and president of the
senate and to the chairpersons of the appropriate standing committees
of the general assembly. Section History: Recent Form
86 Acts, ch 1245, § 1409; 87 Acts, ch 115, § 36; 88 Acts, ch 1114,
§ 1; 88 Acts, ch 1158, § 54; 88 Acts, ch 1263, § 1; 89 Acts, ch 155,
§ 2; 89 Acts, ch 206, § 6; 90 Acts, ch 1152, § 1; 90 Acts, ch 1253, §
6, 122; 90 Acts, ch 1271, § 1101; 91 Acts, ch 84, §2; 91 Acts, ch
126, §1; 92 Acts, ch 1158, §3; 92 Acts, ch 1159, §1, 6; 92 Acts, ch
1221, §2; 92 Acts, ch 1246, §27; 93 Acts, ch 48, § 14, 15; 94 Acts,
ch 1091, §4--12; 98 Acts, ch 1215, § 23, 63; 99 Acts, ch 192, §30;
2000 Acts, ch 1081, §1; 2000 Acts, ch 1167, §2; 2001 Acts, ch 161,
§14; 2001 Acts, ch 181, §12; 2002 Acts, ch 1140, §5; 2002 Acts, ch
1152, §2; 2002 Acts, 2nd Ex, ch 1003, §92, 95; 2003 Acts, ch 145,
§222; 2003 Acts, ch 180, §3, 4; 2005 Acts, ch 115, §29, 40; 2005
Acts, ch 169, § 18; 2005 Acts, ch 179, §91; 2006 Acts, ch 1152, §18;
2007 Acts, ch 98, §1; 2007 Acts, ch 108, §3; 2007 Acts, ch 214, §18;
2008 Acts, ch 1127, §2, 3; 2008 Acts, ch 1187, §141; 2008 Acts, ch
1191, §156; 2009 Acts, ch 54, §2; 2009 Acts, ch 65, §2, 3; 2009 Acts,
ch 168, §1
Referred to in § 256.7, 256F.4, 257.50, 273.2, 279.50, 282.11,
284.3, 284.6, 284.8