Culminating with the Iowa State Fair, August symbolizes the end of summer for Iowans, as students and teachers scramble to make final back-to-school preparations before classes start. For most districts this means an August start date, despite an Iowa law that states schools shall begin no sooner than a day during the calendar week which the first day of September falls.

This year that would mean Sept. 2, the day after Labor Day.

However, school districts may request a waiver from the Iowa Department of Education that would allow their respective schools to start before Sept. 1. Iowa code states that “A request shall be based upon the determination that a starting date on or after the earliest starting date specified in subsection 1 [Sept. 1] would have a significant negative educational impact.”

Last year 353 of the state’s 364 school districts obtained such a waiver.

“If a district goes all through the provisions, all they have to do is check the box on the computer screen, and it is pretty much an automatic approval process,” Del Hoover, a deputy administrator with the DE who processes waiver requests, told the Iowa Independent. “Not only do I not have the authority to deny a waiver, I never see one. That is not a report that comes to me. It is all Web-based.”

Jeff Berger, the DE’s legislative and policy liaison, concurred with Hoover during a phone interview with the Iowa Independent, adding that the DE doesn’t have any provisions in place for denying a request. “Simply put, if the school district asks for the waiver, they get it,” Berger said. “The Legislature doesn’t like that, but when we force them to read the code, then they agree.”

“The trouble is that some legislators will tell us to set the guidelines in administrative rules, but the same legislators will turn around and essentially tell us we don’t have the authority to write those rules,” Berger said. “If lawmakers would have provided criteria for denying waiver requests, we would do so, but as the law is written, we don’t have the authority to deny any waiver requests.”

Moreover, Hoover pointed out an overlap with another part of the code that states school districts can operate their school districts any time between July 1 and June 30.

“As far as I’m concerned, I tend to be neutral on the issue, because it doesn’t make a difference to me when schools begin and end – as long as they are fulfilling the time obligations,” Hoover said. “It is a local-control issue, not a state issue.”

Lane Plugge, superintendent of the Iowa City Community School District, which begins school today, appreciates the flexibility of the waiver, contending the district cannot get in the required number of days if it were to begin after Labor Day. “We would end up going way into June,” Plugge told the Iowa Independent. “There are a number of factors that dictate our calendar here. There’s one that involves graduation and where to find a venue big enough to hold graduation. The only venue large enough to hold graduation that would seat everyone’s family is Carver Hawkeye Arena. There are limited dates we can use Carver, and Memorial Day weekend happens to be one of those dates.”

When building the district calendar, Plugge said administrators tend to work backward, with graduation and considering other factors such as teacher contracts. “Our negotiated contract with teachers also stipulates a number of days appropriated for winter and spring break, so we have to comply with this as well,” Plugge said.

West Branch Superintendent Craig Artist told the Iowa Independent his district wanted to start early enough to get out at a decent time in late spring, so students would be able to participate in activities that begin in early June. West Branch Community School District is scheduled to begin Wednesday.

“We try to end the year in May, but invariably we have to add snow dates, so we have to allow for these days as well,” Artist said. “If you go into the second week of June, you begin interfering with swim lessons, sports camps and teachers taking classes for professional development credits.”

Berger said the DE would eventually like to see a shift from requiring a set number of instructional days to instructional hours. Currently districts are required to have 180 days — a day being a minimum of 5.5 hours. “Districts have so many hours for instruction to kids between July 1 and June 30, and they can figure it out how they will fulfill their time obligations,” Berger said. “That would allow districts more flexibility to develop a schedule that is best for their community. They could go to four-day school weeks, year-round schooling, or change the vacation formulas. This would assure more consistency regarding the amount of education students are getting.”

August heat concerns becoming less of an issue

In recent years August starts have led to early releases because of excessive heat, especially in districts that house older school buildings that are not fully air conditioned.

Berger and Hoover argue the heat is becoming less of an issue as schools update their buildings and add air conditioning. “About two-thirds of the school buildings in Iowa are now air-conditioned, so the heat is not as big an issue any more,” Berger said.

However, Hoover said that some districts are getting pressure on both ends, especially from parents whose children are in schools without air conditioning. “On the other hand, from a taxpayers’ perspective, is starting school in August the best use of taxpayers’ money if they are being dismissed early?” Hoover said. “This is a valid argument. Kids just don’t learn well in this type of environment.”

Plugge acknowledged that the heat factor is an issue for the Iowa City district in late August. “I wish it wasn’t, but it is something to consider,” Plugge said. “Something like 56 or 57 percent of our school buildings are air-conditioned, so we have to take this into account on extremely hot days.”

In West Branch the high school and parts of the middle school are air-conditioned, but Artist said the district is on the right track after the community recently passed a bond issue that would air-condition the rest of the buildings by the end of next summer.

Legislation proposed to move up start date and abolish waivers

During the last legislative session, the Senate approved a measure allowing schools to begin classes before Sept. 1, but no earlier than Aug. 25, and putting an end to waivers.

“Tourism and recreation in Iowa begins to suffer when schools start their academic years earlier in August,” Sen. John Putney, R-Gladbrook, told the Sioux City Journal in March. Gladbrook, who retired from the senate this year, had been a longtime support of this measure. However, the bill died in the House, and with Gladbrook’s retirement, its fate may be in limbo.