Iowa Association of Christian Schools

The Public Policy Voice of Iowa's Protestant, Christ-Centered Schools.

We are the public policy voice of
Iowa's Protestant, Christ-centered schools.

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Annual Meeting And State Reporting Updates!

October 14, 2014 By Eric

We have just sent an email to member schools and administrators detailing our annual meeting date, times, and location.   The IACS Annual Membership meeting is open to IACS school administrators and board members and will be held Wednesday, November 19th at the Fox Creek Center.  You can find a map to their location on their temporary website.

The email also passes along some critical updates on reporting requirements for independently accredited schools.  We are encouraged by some of the details and want to make sure you get the information quickly.

If you are an IACS front office manager or administrator and you do not get our email by the end of the day today, please contact us and we’ll make sure you are included on our “Member Schools” and “IACS Administrators” email lists!

Filed Under: Independent Accreditation, Issue Update, News Tagged With: Accreditation, Department of Ed, Email List, Independent Accreditation, Iowa, Private Education

September Newsletter Available

September 15, 2014 By Eric

We have some great updates on Independent Accreditation, our Annual Members Meeting in November, and other information!

You can read the entire newsletter here:

IACS_September 2014_Newsletter

Filed Under: Education Savings Accounts, Independent Accreditation, Iowa ACE, Issue Update, News, School Choice, School News Tagged With: Accreditation, Department of Ed, Education Savings Accounts, ESA, Independent Accreditation, Iowa, Iowa ACE, Iowa Legislature, newsletter, Private Education, School Choice, State Board of Education, website

Financial Literacy Work Team Recommendations Announced

September 15, 2014 By Eric

There is no question Iowa’s financial institutions and college lending services are seeing a tangible problem with student debt and lower levels of financial literacy.  There is no shortage of stories about skyrocketing student debt, maxed out credit cards, and and consumers struggling to know their options.

For a number of years, the Iowa Association of Christian Schools (IACS) has been involved in discussions at the Capitol about how best to improve financial literacy education in Iowa.  Since the passage of the Iowa Core Curriculum, Iowa’s schools have been required (mandated) to teach financial literacy and address the standards as part of the Iowa Core’s “21st Century Skills” framework.  The real challenges for schools have been finding quality resources and a lack of emphasis on the area as schools adjust to an ever-changing demographic and regulatory environment.

IACS has always believed there is a win-win solution that avoids additional onerous and duplicative mandates while providing the resources needed for schools to implement quality financial literacy programming.  We are proud to have been a part of a conversation last year with members of the business community, legislators, and the Iowa Department of Education on a way forward and we have had representation on the Financial Literacy Work Team that came out of those discussions.

Our goal was to figure out the best way to provide resources and training to schools, how best to clarify the standards to make them easier to implement, and gather information on how schools are meeting the requirement.  We also are interested in collecting examples of what is working well and share these with the rest of the education community across the State.  As an organization that is concerned about financial literacy and always opposed to unfunded mandates, we believe the work team recommendations accomplish all of these goals in a way that will work best for Iowa’s students and stakeholders in the private sector.

We stand ready to help improve communication and raise the visibility of this important issue across the state.  We thank Director Brad Buck and his staff, Governor Branstad and his staff, and the members of the Work Team for their passion for the issue and their willingness to work on solutions that respect the role of local schools and provide meaningful help implementing financial literacy standards.

You can read the Department’s press release and the Work Group’s recommendations here:

Branstad, Reynolds, Director Buck unveil Financial Literacy Work Team Recommendations

Filed Under: Issue Update, News Tagged With: Accreditation, Department of Ed, Financial Literacy, Governor Branstad, Iowa, Iowa Legislature, Private Education

April 2014 IACS Newsletter

April 7, 2014 By Eric

Our April 2014 IACS Newsletter is out!  Included are a number of updates on State funding of private schools, ESA legislation and details on the Summer STO Meeting.

Click below to read it in its entirety:
IACSApril2014Newsletter

Filed Under: Education Savings Accounts, Iowa ACE, Issue Update, Legislative Update, News, School Choice, School News Tagged With: Action Alert, Education Savings Accounts, ESA, Iowa, Iowa ACE, Iowa House, Iowa Legislature, newsletter, Private Education, School Choice, Textbooks, Transportation, website

School Instructional Time Bill Passes

February 26, 2014 By Eric

The Iowa House and Senate have passed HF 2170 unanimously yesterday afternoon.  This bill makes clarifications for schools choosing hours and includes the waiver for nonpublic school start dates.  Last year, the ed reform bill made changes to start date language and non publics were inadvertently left out of the waiver process.  This bill corrects that mistake.  We do not have any reason to believe the Governor will not sign the bill.

We will email our schools when we know what the waiver request should look like and who should receive it.  If your school is not on our email list, please visit our action center and sign up your administrator and/or general school email address now.

We are being told the waiver deadline is being extended past March 1 this year but we highly recommend having next year’s calendars ready now and be ready to submit a waiver request today or tomorrow should you hear from IACS.  Let us know if you have questions!

*UPDATE* We got word from the Dept. that the deadline for start date waivers this year is June 13 – the same day BEDS reports are due.  We’ll email schools with details soon.

Filed Under: Legislative Update, News Tagged With: Iowa, Iowa Legislature, School Start Date, Waivers

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