'Unfortunate' situation: Seid advocates for local control in school start dates

It's looking like it's going to be an Aug. 23 compromise when it comes to the school start date fiasco that has plagued the Iowa Legislature this legislative season.

“It’s unfortunate," said Clarke Superintendent Steve Seid. "I really support the local control of the school district and being that 23rd of August, to me, is just kind of a pacifier.”

In December, state school officials learned Gov. Branstad's Iowa Department of Education will no longer automatically grant waivers to start classes earlier than state law requires, which is the week of Sept. 1.

Many Iowa schools start in the middle of August. However, Branstad has said starting school early in August hurts the state's tourism industry and Iowa State Fair activities.

School district's in Iowa used to take for granted their waiver for an early start date would be easily approved by the state, now there are much stricter guidelines for approval.

Lawmakers have been scrambling to find a solution, especially one Branstad won't automatically veto.

Two different bills

A Senate education committee approved a bill that would allow school districts to decide when to start classes, also known as local control.

A House education committee approved a bill that would require classes to start on or after Aug. 23, with a stipulation that school districts cannot seek a waiver to begin sooner.

Seid said he believes schools should have control on when to schedule their first day of school.

“To have the entire state under that one umbrella because certain parts of the state have specific issues, I don’t think that that’s an equitable approach,” he said.

Only two Iowa schools didn’t apply for the early start date waiver last school year. One of the schools didn’t apply because they were under construction.

“If 300-plus school districts are saying we need the waiver to start earlier, I think that sends a clear message,” Seid said.

This situation has put school districts into a tailspin when it comes time to approving calendars for the next school year. Something that typically has been done by now in previous years, has been getting pushed back.

Clarke's calendar?

Clarke has a calendar committee that convenes to discuss the upcoming school calendar.
At the time of the interview, the committee hadn't met simply for the reason they have no idea where to go from here.

Seid said he has calendars prepared that have been “sketched out” for different school start date possibilities — Local control date, Aug. 23, and Sept. 1.

He said it’s a concerning situation for school districts, but he knows there is legislative support for school districts to maintain local control.

“We have something in the hopper to present to that (calendar) committee when we convene, but right now we’re just waiting for some decisions. However, we’re going to have to be moving right along with this soon because dates have to be in place,” Seid said.

When it comes to laying out the calendar, there are a lot of things that potentially are on the table, including spring and winter breaks.

Reasons for local control

Seid said a big factor about maintaining local control was the ability to schedule semester tests before winter break. There was also factors of athletics, practices, contests and concurrent enrollment with local colleges.

Those concerns were shared with the department of education, but when new guidelines for waivers came out in January, superintendents were informed they wouldn’t be factors for waiver approval.

“They cut us off at the knees before we could even get started,” Seid said.

What would be granted early approval was a school district showing they had research-based literature that showed starting earlier positively affected student achievement.

“Of course, my response is, how does summer vacation and state fairs — how does that fit in to the research-based educational value? So, it’s a balancing act. I wish I could tell you exactly where it’s going to land, but regardless, we’ll be prepared one way or the other,” Seid said.