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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced plans to cut taxes, raise teacher pay and reform state agencies that provide special education services, among other policy priorities, during her Condition of the State speech Tuesday night at the Iowa Statehouse. You can watch the replay of Reynolds' annual address in the embed below. Changes to Area Education AgenciesReynolds laid out plans to overhaul the state's Area Education Agencies or AEAs this year. Currently, school districts are required to send special education funding to AEAs, which help all Iowa students with disabilities.Reynolds' proposal would require AEAs to only provide special education services, would shift oversight authority of AEAs to the Department of Education and would give school districts control of how to use special education funding. "If schools like the services from their AEA, they can continue to use them. If they want to use a neighboring AEA instead, they can do that," Reynolds said. "Or, they can go outside the AEA system and contract with a private company or partner with other districts to share a speech or behavioral therapist or they can spend more on special education teachers and put the dollars right into the classroom."House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst said she's concerned that AEAs would no longer be allowed to provide mental health services. "As the governor talks on one hand about the importance of behavioral health in the state and how we need to do a better job of providing mental health services to all Iowans, which we agree with, she's also proposing taking away that function from the area education agencies across the state," Konfrst said. "So while talking about behavioral health, she's removing behavioral health professionals from rural areas just at the time when they need us, when they're needed the most," Konfrst added.Income tax cutsReynolds also proposed further income tax cuts. In 2022, lawmakers passed a new income tax bill which established a flat rate of 3.9%, set to phase in gradually until finally taking effect in 2026. Reynolds plan would reduce the rate even further.Under her plan, the income tax rate would drop to a flat 3.65% and would take effect this year, retroactive to January 1st. The following year, in 2025, the rate would fall again to flat 3.5%. "This bill represents a total savings of almost $3.8 billion for taxpayers over the next five years and it gets there by cutting taxes for every Iowan who pays them," Reynolds said. Boosting teacher payAnother one of Reynolds top priorities this session is raising teacher pay.Her proposal would require the state legislature to invest $96 million in new money to increase starting teacher pay by 50%. That would raise starting teacher pay from, $33,500 to $50,000.Reynolds' plan would also set a minimum salary of $62,000 for teachers with at least 12 years of experience.She also announced that she's allocating $10 million of federal funding to a merit-based grant program that will "reward teachers who have gone above and beyond to help their students succeed.""These investments will put Iowa in the top-five states for starting pay and help recruit more of the best and brightest to join the teaching profession," Reynolds said.Changes to Iowa healthcare Reynolds legislative priorities also include several changes to healthcare in the state.Currently, Medicaid only covers postpartum care for two months after birth. Reynolds proposed expanding that coverage to 12 months, for new moms who make less than $42,000 a year. "Let’s do more to help moms, babies, and their families get off to a good start," Reynolds said.She also announced a plan to consolidate Iowa's 13 mental-health and 19 substance-use regions into seven behavioral health districts. "I am proposing we combine the 32 different substance-use and mental-health regions together into seven new, unified behavioral health districts. I’m also proposing to increase support for behavioral-health services with a portion of Iowa’s opioid settlement funds," Reynolds said.RELATED COVERAGE:Iowa Legislature reconvenes with subdued start ahead of presidential caucusesNearly 2 years after deadly shooting outside their school, East High School students walk out in support of Perry