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Iowa legislature sets start date for schools as August 23

The last block to legislation resolving school start dates in Iowa appears to have been resolved.

The last block to legislation resolving school start dates in Iowa appears to have been resolved.

The Iowa Board of Education voted down a proposal to create stricter policies for school start dates in 2013. After they continued to hear from parents and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, the board revisited the issue in 2014 and voted to tighten requirements for districts seeking waivers to the state law, which said schools could not start classes prior to the week that includes September 1.  Branstad previously said the waivers were unfair to Iowa's tourism industry, and he cited the annual state fair as one event that might be impacted by early school start times.

The measure headed to the governor's desk was viewed by many as a compromise, moving the start date up to August 23 instead of the week that includes September 1.

“This bill eliminates language prohibiting an early school start date for a school calendar, and instead authorizes school districts and accredited nonpublic schools to determine the school start date for the school calendar based on the best educational interests of the students. The bill also eliminates a provision that authorizes the department of education to grant waivers to allow school districts and accredited nonpublic schools to commence classes prior to the earliest starting date, and repeals a provision that establishes an aid reduction penalty for early school starts by school districts,” according to the official explanation included as part of the legislation.

However, local school district superintendents, like Pleasant Valley Superintendent, Jim Spelhaug, think the control over school start dates should be controlled within the district, not by the state.

"What makes us think that folks in Des Moines know better than our locally elected school board members as to what's best for pleasant valley? Or any of the other school districts around the state," said Spelhaug. " It is an assault on local control and that's very troubling."

Spelhaug said Pleasant Valley schools have normally started around August 12th and a later school start date makes it difficult to prepare students for finals and AP tests.

"It is naive to believe we're not diminished as the result of not being able to start when we have historically started. We didn't do that just because we wanted to start early, we felt that there were some very good educational reasons for that, and some of those are now being widdled away," Spelhaug said.

The Iowa House passed the bill March 24, 2015, that sets the state's official school start date as no earlier than August 23.  Their vote was 71 to 29.  The next day, the Iowa Senate passed the measure by a narrower margin, 28-22, but Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal immediately filed  motion to reconsider the vote.  Gronstal withdrew that hold Tuesday morning, March 31, letting the senate's previous vote stand.

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