Curious Iowa: Why does school start before Labor Day in Iowa?

This Friday marks the first day of school for many K-12 students in Iowa. But Wilma Porter, of Cedar Rapids, remembers starting school after Labor Day when she attended school in the 1950s and 1960s. Porter wondered how the first day of school came to be in mid-August when it’s so hot out. So, she wrote to Curious Iowa, a series from The Gazette that answers readers’ questions about our state, its people and culture, for the answer.

Current Iowa law dictates that Aug. 23 is the earliest date a school year can start. This wasn’t always the case. In fact, the current law is a compromise between schools and the Iowa tourism industry.

Why did school start after Labor Day in the past?

The summer tourism season starts on Memorial Day and runs through Labor Day.

  Buy Photo

According to Gazette reporting from Nov. 13, 1984, Cedar Rapids schools traditionally started after Labor Day until the 1970-1971 school year. Prior to 1985, Iowa school start dates varied from mid- to late-August, to after Labor Day. The Iowa tourism industry argued that August start dates reduced summer travel, resulting in millions fewer tax dollars generated.

To Porter’s point about the heat, former Sen. Joe Brown (D-Montezuma) commented in 1984 that it’s easier to teach students when they don’t “stick together” at school during August heat.

In 1985, then-Governor Terry Branstad signed a bill that required schools to start no sooner than Sept. 1. The bill allowed school districts to request an exemption if they could demonstrate that the September school start damaged education.

Iowa Travel Industry Partners Executive Director Chelsea Lerud told The Gazette that “basically every school in the state of Iowa did that waiver. And so there was no consistency.”

September start dates meant the school year would run later in the spring and give districts less flexibility with snow days. In 1985, Iowa law required 179 instruction days. Today, Iowa law dictates that the school calendar must include no fewer than 180 days or 1,080 hours of instruction.

When did the law change to Aug. 23?

  Buy Photo

Let’s jump ahead to 2015 when the tourism industry revisited the school start date issue. The Gazette previously reported that during the 2014-2015 school year, just 14 out of 338 districts started school after Aug. 23.

So, the Iowa tourism industry partnered with the Save Iowa Summers coalition to lobby for change. Lerud said the goal was to eliminate the waivers and keep the school start date after Labor Day.

“Well, schools weren’t a fan of that,” Lerud said. “And so it came to negotiations and Aug. 23 is the compromise that was created at that time between the schools and the tourism industry.”

Aug. 23 is not a random day. It’s the latest date that the 11-day Iowa State Fair may end. The state fair is Iowa’s largest event and it draws more than a million attendees annually.

This year, Aug. 23 falls on a Friday. For districts like Solon Community School District, this means the first week of school will be just one day.

“We start as early as we possibly can, so Aug. 23 is predetermined regardless of the day of the week it falls on … We do everything we can to build a calendar that has 180 student contact days fulfilled, prior to Memorial Day weekend,” Davis Eidahl, Solon Community School District superintendent, told The Gazette. “After Memorial Day, student attention and productivity lessens.”

While classes aren’t in session until the 23rd, Eidahl said that 70 percent of Solon’s high school students already have been reporting to school for fall sports, marching band, color guard and other activities.

“Student schedules ramp up the first week of August with extracurricular activities,” Eidahl said. “Students might as well be in class too.”

  Buy Photo

Has the issue resurfaced since 2015?

The issue was raised again in 2018, 2020 and even during this year’s legislative session.

Eidahl said that protecting the state fair and other summer community events is important, but that districts would prefer to have more flexibility in determining school start dates.

Last year, Sen. Dawn Driscoll (R-Williamsburg) introduced Senate File 2010, which would change the school calendar requirements so that school may begin no sooner than the first Tuesday following the final day of the Iowa State Fair.

Eidahl said the bill “made much more sense than to begin on a different day of the week annually.”

“We hope that bill Sen. Driscoll authored last session is submitted and passed in the upcoming session.”

  Buy Photo

Lerud stressed that the issue extends beyond the Iowa State Fair, citing that amusement and water parks, golf courses, and the summer workforce all are impacted by the start of the school year.

“Every day in August that school starts earlier, that’s over $22.36 million that the state is losing out on revenue.” Lerud said.

According to an Iowa Tourism Office report, the tourism industry employed more than 68,000 Iowans in 2022 and tourism spending generated a total of $1.1 billion in state and local taxes.

“We’re importing those tax dollars, which is honestly giving the schools the important tax dollars that they need to function to provide the education for the students of Iowa,” Lerud said.

Have a question for Curious Iowa?

Tell us what to investigate next.

Comments: bailey.cichon@thegazette.com