House File 297 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 297 BY INGELS A BILL FOR An Act relating to the statewide preschool program by modifying 1 certain funding provisions and including applicability 2 provisions. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 2206HH (1) 90 md/jh
H.F. 297 Section 1. Section 256C.5, subsection 1, paragraph c, Code 1 2023, is amended to read as follows: 2 c. “Preschool budget enrollment” means the figure that is 3 equal to fifty the sum of the following: 4 (1) Fifty percent of the actual enrollment of eligible 5 students in the preschool programming provided by a school 6 district approved to participate in the preschool program on 7 October 1 of the base year, or the first Monday in October if 8 October 1 falls on a Saturday or Sunday , but excluding students 9 under subparagraph (2) . 10 (2) The actual enrollment of eligible students in the 11 preschool programming provided by a school district approved 12 to participate in the preschool program on October 1 of the 13 base year, or the first Monday in October if October 1 falls on 14 a Saturday or Sunday, whose household income is less than two 15 hundred percent of the federal poverty level according to the 16 most recently revised poverty income guidelines published by 17 the United States department of health and human services. 18 Sec. 2. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies July 1, 2024, for 19 school budget years beginning on or after that date. 20 EXPLANATION 21 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 22 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 23 This bill relates to the statewide preschool program under 24 Code chapter 256C. 25 Under Code chapter 256C, preschool foundation aid is 26 calculated by multiplying the school district’s preschool 27 budget enrollment by the regular program state cost per 28 pupil for the budget year. “Preschool budget enrollment” is 29 defined as the figure that is equal to 50 percent of the actual 30 enrollment of eligible students in the preschool programming 31 provided by a school district approved to participate in the 32 preschool program on October 1 of the base year. The bill 33 modifies the calculation of “preschool budget enrollment” to 34 be the sum of 50 percent of the actual enrollment of eligible 35 -1- LSB 2206HH (1) 90 md/jh 1/ 2
H.F. 297 students in the preschool programming provided by a school 1 district whose household income is 200 percent or greater 2 of the federal poverty level plus the actual enrollment of 3 eligible students in the preschool programming provided by a 4 school district whose household income is less than 200 percent 5 of the federal poverty level. 6 The bill applies July 1, 2024, for school budget years 7 beginning on or after that date. 8 -2- LSB 2206HH (1) 90 md/jh 2/ 2