Governance

While most area education agency services result from state or federal mandates and requests from local school districts, budget allocations and delivery methods are the responsibility of each AEA's board of directors.The board annually approves the budget and program plans before submission to the Iowa Department of Education.

Boards establish educational policy and administrative regulations which support and supplement requirements of the Department of Education.They are also authorized to enter into contracts or agreements with other agencies for programs, services or facilities.

Each board member represents a Director District, a geographic portion of the area which may contain one or several school districts. The number of director districts in each AEA varies from five to nine. These districts may be comprised of one larger district, several smaller school districts or a combination.

An important concept in area education agency governance isthat directors are elected by and represent local district school boards of education. This system maintains the Iowa philosophy of local control through a structure which closely parallels that of local schools. The system keeps governance in the hands of the citizenry and closest to those who are governed. Local school districts serve their communities; AEA's serve local school districts. It's logical that AEA governance comes from publicly-elected local district board members.

At election time all local boards in a district meet in a"convention." Each district is allowed a percentage of votes equal to the percentage of the school district's population in the Director District.For example, if a school district has 40 percent of the population, it would receive 40 percent of the votes.

AEA board members must reside in the district they represent, may be members of local school boards, but cannot be school employees. Directors serve without pay for staggered three-year terms. Each board elects its own president and vice-president, and appoints a treasurer and secretary.The AEA administrator serves as the board's chief executive officer.