While thankfully these comments are fairly infrequent, occasionally a local school superintendent or principal might complain that the district s/he serves would be better off “keeping” the funding that goes to support the AEA rather than receiving our services. Most of us know that this is an almost laughable idea given the breadth and depth of services provided, but prior to now it doesn’t appear that anyone had ever actually researched what would happen if AEA services ceased to exist.
Dr. Roark Horn and Dr. Bob Stephens, a professor and originator of the AEA concept back in the 1970’s, recently did just that. They have co-written a “white paper” to be used to help various stakeholders understand the value of the Iowa AEA system. Download and read the entire white paper here or simply watch Roark discuss the main points in this important podcast. (Be sure to click the play symbol to begin.)
Well done podcast! Thanks for clearly highlighting these conjectures.