2014 Amended State Legislative PrioritiesMasterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Amending State Legislative Priorities
DATE: February 28, 2014
Dubuque
band
AI- America City
IIIii!
2007 • 2012 • 2013
Assistant City Manager Teri Goodmann is recommending the City Council amend the
2014 State Legislative Priorities to include supporting the efforts of the Dubuque
Community School District and Hillcrest Family Services to change Iowa law to allow for
the reimbursement of realistic staffing, administration, and occupancy costs for the
provision of special education services to Dubuque resident children and children from
other communities served in Dubuque.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
Mic ael C. Van Milligen
MCVM:jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen
FROM: Teri Goodmann, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: Amending State Legislative Priorities
DATE: February 27, 2014
Dubuque
bitell
All- America City
1 I
2007 • 2012 • 2013
Introduction
The purpose of this memo is to request the City Council amend the State Legislative
Priorities to include an issue related to the provision of special education services to
Dubuque resident children and children from other communities served in Dubuque
through a partnership between the Dubuque Community School District and Hillcrest
Family Services
Discussion
The Dubuque Community School District (DCSD) and Hillcrest Family Services (HFS)
have partnered for 25 years to provide specialized education services to up to 120
youth at a time at the Hillcrest Family Services campus on Asbury Road. The current
partnership between the Dubuque Community School District and Hillcrest Family
Services results in the most effective and cost efficient educational services for youth in
trauma. In addition it provides the most appropriate classroom learning environments for
all students served by the Dubuque Community School District.
Since late 2010 DCSD and HFS have been working with the Iowa Department of
Education to resolve the issue of how administrative, occupancy, and some education
costs should be reimbursed. The history of the partnership has been that Hillcrest
Family Services charges Dubuque Community School District the actual costs for the
specialized education and the Dubuque Community School District then pays for
Dubuque students and bills other districts for their students. The interpretation of the
Iowa Department of Education is that these costs are not reimbursable to either
Dubuque Community School District or Hillcrest Family Services, thus jeopardizing a
very valuable program. The ending of this program would not be in the best interests of
the students served by Hillcrest or the Dubuque Community School District and would
place extreme demands on our Dubuque schools. The City of Dubuque has a stake in
insuring the best educational environments for all residents in Dubuque.
Recommendation:
I recommend that the City Council amend the 2014 State Legislative Priorities to include
supporting the efforts of the Dubuque Community School District and Hillcrest Family
Services to change Iowa law to allow for the reimbursement of realistic staffing,
administration, and occupancy costs.
2