Branstad needs summer schooling

By The Quad City Times

----

Gov. Terry Branstad convened the best Iowa thinkers, along with panels of national experts, to chart a course for education reform during his education summit of 2011.

Nowhere in the summit did tourism come up.

Similarly, Branstad took his zeal for education reform on the road, for an exhaustive tour collecting input from Iowans. At the Davenport forum, tourism wasn't mentioned once.

Instead, we heard again and again about the need for more class time, longer school days, longer school years and more time dedicated to academics.

The only time tourism came up was in the legislature, where a handful of elected representatives speculated about the impact of a longer school year on the state fair and a few Lake Okoboji resorts.

So we're dumbfounded to see Branstad distracted by the phony connection between education and tourism. Iowa law sets a Sept. 1 start date, but the Department of Education allowed 340 of the state's 348 districts to begin school earlier. Now Branstad says his education department has been too lenient and should grant fewer waivers to the Sept. 1 rule.

Why? There certainly isn't any documented, research-based reason to begin school in September. Branstad says he's not seen any data that suggests earlier starts improve test scores. Conversely, we've not seen any data that suggests it hurts.

What we have seen are hundreds of local Iowa boards reaching the same conclusion about what's best for their students, parents, faculty and staff. Beginning school earlier allows more schedule flexibility, instructional time and accommodation of snow days.

“I believe the present policy has been too lax and has not been fair to the tourism industry in Iowa,” said Branstad.

Again, during Branstad's highly touted summit, or in his 2011 “Blueprint for Education,” fairness to tourism businesses wasn't even on the agenda. Neither Iowa's tourism industry, nor any other, should influence the academic calendar in pursuit of customers.

Branstad shouldn't usurp hundreds of local school boards and thousands of parents at the request of a few businesses. Instead, those tourism businesses should adjust to meet the needs of their customers… which is exactly what Branstad demanded with education reform: Change the system to meet the needs of Iowa families. Lawmakers responded. School boards responded. Teachers responded.

We're confident Iowa's tourism industry can adapt, too, and build businesses without a governor compromising schoolchildren's education.