Iowa school start dates now set by edict from above

So the Iowa Department of Education has launched No Butter Cow Left Behind.

Of course, the department has a different name for what it rolled out last week. It's called 'guidance” on 'school start date waivers.” But it will please the Iowa State Fair and tourism interests. And federal functionaries who crafted all the tangles, hurdles and handcuffs of No Child Left Behind have to be impressed.

It's true that Iowa has a law requiring schools to start the academic year during the week in which Sept. 1 falls. But that law also provides for a waiver allowing the department to permit districts to start earlier. For many years, the department used that legal discretion to allow local school boards to pick a start date and craft calendars accordingly. A rare nod to local control.

Well, no more. The 'guidance” issued by the department last week basically means districts have a better chance of winning a Powerball jackpot than receiving a waiver. The department announced its intentions last month, listened to all the good reasons districts gave for wanting to set their own calendars, and then issued an edict last week saying none of them will be considered valid.

Extra curricular activities, community college programs, scheduling semester exams before winter break, busing, snow days, all invalid. And in a state where we're spending $50 million annually to improve the teaching profession, professional development of teachers also doesn't count.

Instead, districts must come up with scientific evidence that starting later harms student achievement. Perhaps districts can fund that research with all of their extra cash. Never mind that the department has provided no such evidence that its policy change benefits student achievement.

And that's because it's not about education. It's about helping the Iowa State Fair and tourism interests who have a friend in the governor's office. They see a later start date as good for their bottom lines.

I do love the State Fair, where Iowa shows off the bounty of its famous work ethic, creativity and community spirit each August. You might even get the idea we're smart enough to elect school boards capable of setting a school calendar. But, apparently, appointed bureaucrats know better.

Fortunately, state lawmakers are getting involved. A bill that cleared a House subcommittee would eliminate the Sept. 1 law and leave start dates to school boards. A legislative show of support for that plan might persuade the governor to seek a more reasonable compromise.

As I've said before, my issue with this isn't that I love school in mid-August. I don't. My problem is undercutting elected school boards to please interests that have failed to get what they want through the legislative process. Over the past 15 years, elected state lawmakers repeatedly have voted down tourism-backed efforts to scrap waivers and force schools to start in September.

So elected school boards across Iowa favor local control of calendars and elected lawmakers have declined to take that power away. Now, we get a bureaucratic substitute. 'I Can't Believe It's Not Voters,” perhaps.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com.