Aug. 23 Iowa school start date bill heading to governor

DES MOINES - Legislation barring K-12 schools from starting fall classes before Aug. 23 is on its way to Gov. Terry Branstad's desk for his expected signature.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, announced Tuesday he was removing his procedural motions to reconsider the vote by which senators last week approved the House-passed plan. The move sends the bill to Branstad in hopes of jump-starting bipartisan efforts to resolve other disputed issues this legislative session.

'This compromise ends a major distraction which has taken attention away from this session's most-important, most-pressing education issue: Renewing Iowa's bipartisan commitment to responsibly investing in Iowa's local students. This issue affects 100 percent of Iowa schoolchildren, parents, teachers, as well as employers and community leaders. We must provide the funding necessary for our schools to ensure increased student achievement and teacher quality,” Gronstal said in a statement.

Senate File 227 began its legislative journey as an attempt by senators to give school districts local control over setting school start dates, but it was reworked in the House to prohibit schools from beginning fall classes before Aug. 23. That version returned to the Senate last week and was approved by a 28-22 vote, but Gronstal put a hold on the measure out of concern it would not allow Iowa high schools to adopt year-round calendars.

'When it comes to the school start date, Gov. Branstad single-handedly created a significant problem for schools and parents,” Gronstal said in his statement. 'Today I've decided to allow Senate File 227 to go the governor's office and resolve this issue.”

Gronstal's action came one day after Branstad told reporters he would accept the Aug. 23 compromise on the school-start date controversy. 'I can live with the present law, or this compromise is something that I would find also acceptable,” Branstad said.

On Tuesday Branstad called S.F. 227 a 'reasonable compromise” that he can accept. He said the Aug. 23 start date balances the interests of the parties involved and should resolve the issue 'for the long term.”

'I think it's going to be of significant benefit to all concerned,” the governor said Tuesday. 'This has been a contentious issue for decades and it's an issue that I believe needed to be resolved in a way that's going to give stability and predictability to when school starts.”

Schools' starting dates became a hot issue after Branstad directed the state Department of Education to stop granting automatic waivers to school districts and develop new guidelines, whereby schools would have to show a compelling educational reason to bypass current law that says classes should not begin before the week that includes Sept. 1. Branstad said the change was prompted by complaints from parents, Iowa tourism officials and others concerned that early school starts were cramping family vacation time and costing millions of dollars annually in lost tourism as students returned to K-12 classes as early as mid-August.

Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix of Shell Rock called Tuesday's development 'a good sign” as the split-control Legislature starts to tackle tough budget decisions as it works toward a scheduled May adjournment.

'I think it's the right thing to do,” Dix said of Gronstal's decision to lift his procedural hold on a bill that had won Senate passage. 'It's just as well we get this to the governor so schools can start to plan. It is my hope that we would have the same attitude about school funding. We should get that resolved so our schools can plan. That's what we ought to try to get done as soon as we can.”

Republicans who control the Iowa House and Democrats in charge of the Iowa Senate have been at loggerheads for most of the year over state aid funding levels for K-12 schools.

Branstad submitted a budget proposal in January to boost K-12 funding by $100 million in fiscal 2016 and another $150 million the following fiscal year. That would translate into an increase of 1.25 percent for K-12 school next fiscal year and a 2.45 percent increase in fiscal 2017.

Legislative Republicans support the governor's education positions, but they may not agree with him on an overall spending target of $7.34 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Legislative Democrats support a 4 percent boost in K-12 funding for fiscal 2016 which would top $200 million.

Gronstal - who declined to talk with reporters, choosing instead to issue a statement - said Republicans' proposed 1.25 percent increase for fiscal 2016 'will result in more crowded classrooms, fewer course offerings, and higher property taxes. It's time for the governor and legislative Republicans to start listening to their constituents on this important issue.”

Branstad and legislative Republicans say they favor setting a funding level for schools that is affordable, sustainable and predictable given the state's current fiscal situation.

House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, welcomed Gronstal's decision to send the school start date issue to the governor and said he expected GOP negotiators to 'reach out again this week” to Democrats in hopes of resolving the K-12 funding impasse.

'I'm not going to speak for the Senate. Our position, we're giving them 55 cents out of every new dollar,” said Paulsen. 'We think that's a leaning forward position of what the state can afford, but it's the right thing to do to put them in that position with regard to the funding we have available to us. We're ready to follow through on the promise we made.”

Local school start dates

Many school boards this year have approved or considered multiple 2015-16 calendar options as they waited for a decision from the state. Some public school calendars now will have to be given final approval by their boards. Here are the most likely start dates for some districts:

' Cedar Rapids Community School District: Aug. 24

' Iowa City Community School District: Aug. 24

' Clear Creek-Amana Community School District: Sept. 1

' College Community School District: Aug. 24

' Linn-Mar Community School District: Aug. 24

' Marion Community School District: Aug. 25

' Solon Community School District: Aug. 24