School Start Date and the Early Start Waiver

Iowa Code states that a school year shall begin no sooner than a day during the calendar week in which the first day of September falls.  In past years, schools have been allowed to apply for a waiver allowing school to start earlier.  By my numbers, all but two school districts in Iowa applied for the Early Start Waiver last year.  Alta and Aurelia have both applied for the Early Start Waiver for a number of years. Past reasons for starting school earlier than the legislated date are:

• To end the first semster prior to Christmas break and start the second semester upon returning from Christmas break.

• To better align the high school calendar with the college calendar because college classes open for high school students to take begin in August and the semester ends prior to Christmas.

• Practices for Fall sports begin in early to mid August.

• A school year extending into June creates difficulties for staff members pursuing continuing education courses.

• To reduce the overlap of youth baseball and softball with the school year.

• Extracurricular competition or scheduling

• Post-Secondary Enrollment Option courses or local community college schedules

• Completion of first semester before winter break

• Professional development for teachers

• To account for snow days

The tourism industry supports a later start date to extend the summer period for family vacations. It also extends the time that high school students would be available to work at tourist attractions.

In the past, the waivers have required a public hearing, local school board approval and the rationale for starting early. If those criteria were met, the waiver was granted.  Starting this Spring, the automatic approval is coming to an end, effective with the 2015-16 calendar submission. 

The process that the Department of Education will follow states that school districts bear the burdent of proving that a start date on or before the date specified in Iowa Code wold have a "significant negative educational impact."  Keep in mind, that the bar set by the general assembly for granting this waiver is high. 

Negative educational impact is defined as and adverse effect on student academic achievement and/or student learning environment. The district is required to provide objective evidence of the negative impact, the percentage of students negatively impacted, the magnitude of the negative impact as supported by valid and reliable measures, and supported by scientifically based research.

Based on recent communications sent to school from the Department of Education, the following WILL NOT constitute a significant negative educational impact:

• Extracurricular competition or scheduling
• Post-Secondary Enrollment Option courses or local community college schedules
• Completion of first semester before winter break
• Professional development for teachers
• To account for snow days

**This is not an all inclusive list.

For the 2015-16 school year, the earliest a school can start without a waiver is August 31st. Proving a negative educational impact may be difficult as most of our local reasons for starting early are clearly stated as not allowable for future waivers.  Start date preference surveys are going out to get impact from staff and parents on the subject.  Deadline for submitting and Early Start Waiver application is March 15th.