House File 78 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 78 BY GASSMAN A BILL FOR An Act relating to the earliest school start date. 1 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 2 TLSB 1753YH (4) 88 kh/jh
H.F. 78 Section 1. Section 279.10, subsection 1, Code 2019, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 1. The school year for each school district and accredited 3 nonpublic school shall begin on July 1 and the school calendar 4 shall begin no sooner than August 23 a day following the date 5 set by the state fair board, established under section 173.1, 6 as the closing day of the annual fair and exposition, and no 7 later than the first Monday in December. The school calendar 8 shall include not less than one hundred eighty days or one 9 thousand eighty hours of instruction during the calendar year. 10 The board of directors of a school district and the authorities 11 in charge of an accredited nonpublic school shall determine the 12 school start date for the school calendar in accordance with 13 this subsection and shall set the number of days or hours of 14 required attendance for the school year as provided in section 15 299.1, subsection 2 , but the board of directors of a school 16 district shall hold a public hearing on any proposed school 17 calendar prior to adopting the school calendar. If the board 18 of directors of a district or the authorities in charge of an 19 accredited nonpublic school extends the school calendar because 20 inclement weather caused the school district or accredited 21 nonpublic school to temporarily close during the regular school 22 calendar, the school district or accredited nonpublic school 23 may excuse a graduating senior who has met district or school 24 requirements for graduation from attendance during the extended 25 school calendar. A school corporation may begin employment 26 of personnel for in-service training and development purposes 27 before the date to begin elementary and secondary school. 28 EXPLANATION 29 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 30 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 31 This bill changes the earliest school start date from August 32 23 to a day following the closing day of the annual Iowa state 33 fair, as set by the state fair board. 34 -1- LSB 1753YH (4) 88 kh/jh 1/ 1