House File 2341HOUSE 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 ita 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