House File 2341 



                                       HOUSE FILE       
                                       BY  MAY


    Passed House,  Date               Passed Senate, Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to waivers for early school start dates and year
  2    around schools.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 6132YH 82
  5 kh/rj/8

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 279.10, subsection 2, Code 2007, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    2.  The board of directors shall hold a public hearing on
  1  4 any proposal for a pilot program pursuant to subsection 3
  1  5 prior to submitting it a request to the department of
  1  6 education for approval.
  1  7    Sec. 2.  Section 279.10, subsection 4, Code 2007, is
  1  8 amended by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu
  1  9 thereof the following:
  1 10    4.  The board of directors of a school district may submit
  1 11 an application to the director or the department of education
  1 12 requesting a waiver from the earliest school start date
  1 13 requirement of subsection 1 in order to conduct educational
  1 14 research.  The application shall include the scope and
  1 15 objectives of the educational research the school district
  1 16 intends to conduct.  The director of the department of
  1 17 education may approve waivers for not more than three school
  1 18 districts.
  1 19                           EXPLANATION
  1 20    This bill eliminates the department of education's
  1 21 unlimited authority to approve school districts' requests to
  1 22 waive the earliest school start date requirement.  The bill
  1 23 limits the director of the department to issuing waivers to
  1 24 not more than three school districts and to issue the waivers
  1 25 only to school districts conducting educational research.  A
  1 26 school district must include in its application the scope and
  1 27 objectives of the educational research to be conducted.
  1 28    Currently, the school year can begin no sooner than a day
  1 29 during the calendar week in which the first day of September
  1 30 falls, or, if the first day of September falls on a Sunday, on
  1 31 a day during the calendar week which immediately precedes the
  1 32 first day of September.  School districts currently are
  1 33 granted waivers authorizing an earlier start date if the
  1 34 director of the department of education determines that a
  1 35 starting date on or after the earliest starting date would
  2  1 have a significant negative educational impact.
  2  2    The bill includes a technical correction.
  2  3 LSB 6132YH 82
  2  4 kh/rj/8