The Snow Cone/Snow Day Act

School districts across Iowa's frozen, buried tundra are struggling to deal with a pile of snow days.

That includes the Des Moines School District, which hasn't had this many weather-spawned closings in decades. Officials there set up an online survey to see how folks want to make up those days.

According to The Des Moines Register, the survey of more than 10,000 online participants found that adding hours to the school day to make up for the lost time is a popular option.

But that can't happen in Des Moines or any other district unless a series of conditions are met and hoops are jumped through. And that's because Iowa stubbornly holds on to its archaic rule that schools must be in session a minimum of 180 "days."

About five years ago, state lawmakers considered  scrapping that relic of our bygone agrarian days with a minimum number of "contact hours" that would  add up to a full school year. Such a move would give districts a lot of flexibility to craft a school calendar and deal with snow days and other disruptions.

It also would be a  more meaningful measurement of exactly how long kids are in school. Currently, what counts as a school day may not be a full day. Early dismissals, for instance, count the same as full days in class.

Of course, the good idea went nowhere. But I think it's a good time to reconsider the idea, especially as schools also are being pushed to get creative in an effort to stretch scarce dollars.

Maybe it could be part of a compromise with tourism interests, who want lawmakers to force school districts to resist starting the school year before the Iowa State Fair sells its last corn dog each August. It could the the Snow Cone/Snow Day Act of 2010.

The fair and resort owners would get a longer summer and school districts would get new flexibility in shaping the rest of the school year.

What could be better? I know, 60 degrees. Be patient.