A flurry of activity at the Statehouse late last week seemed to flow from the premise that something, something, has to be done about how special education is handled in Iowa schools.
But that premise is no more established today than it was Jan. 9 when Gov. Kim Reynolds first jolted educators and families with a plan to blow up the half-century-old — venerable, some would say — Area Education Agency network that facilitates services for children and some adults with disabilities.
Republicans in the Iowa House introduced and rushed through a pair of hearings new legislation that would adapt a handful of Reynolds’ ideas and order a task force to study the future of AEAs over the next 10 months. A Senate committee passed a version that hews closer to Reynolds’ original plan.
But it is still not evident why anything is so wrong as to warrant overhauling the AEAs before any such task force does its work.
Because nobody has brought forth reliable evidence that special education is in acute crisis in Iowa, legislators should strip all but the task force language from House Study Bill 713 and leave the topic alone until 2025.