Branstad favors later starts for schools

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad indicated Monday that he may intervene in a school start date controversy if the Legislature fails to address concerns by Iowa tourism officials that school districts are routinely granted state waivers to begin classes before Sept. 1.

A measure is working its way through the Iowa House that proposes to change Iowa's school start date law by limiting the authority of the Iowa Department of Education to grant a school district's waiver request to commence classes before Sept. 1 to a date no earlier than the fourth Monday of August. The bill also requires the department to charge school districts a waiver application fee of $100 that proponents say would help cover staff time needed to critically evaluate waiver requests.

Backers say the bill is intended to be a compromise between the tourism/hospitality industry and education groups because it does not eliminate the waiver process, but rather gives school districts a choice in the matter and provides money for state education department to commit resources to evaluate waiver requests instead of just automatically approving them. However, language in the study bill stipulates that proceeds from the $100 fee would be deposited in the state's general fund, not flow directly to the education department.

Changing the school start date law has won Senate approval on several occasions in past sessions only to stall in the House. However, House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, has indicated he believes the current bill likely would muster the required 51 votes for passage this year.

On Monday, Branstad said early school starts hurt Iowa's economy and cost jobs because families are unable to take vacations in August, a key share of Iowa's tourism season that includes the popular Iowa State Fair. The governor said that neighboring states of Wisconsin and Minnesota do not allow schools to start before Sept. 1 and that he may advise the state's education department to take a more critical eye toward granting local school district waivers if lawmakers choose not to change the status quo approach.

“If the Legislature fails to act, I think that might be something that we would seriously look at,” the governor told reporters at his weekly news conference Monday.