A bill that would have set “on or after August 23rd” as the school start date in Iowa has been tabled in the Iowa Senate. On the 10th of March, 32 of the 50 members of the senate voted in favor of letting school boards decide when school starts in the fall. Yesterday afternoon, Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, asked his senate colleagues to vote in favor of that “local control” approach.
That prompted Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal to use a parliamentary maneuver which has tabled the bill. He’s not saying when it may be brought back up for a vote.
Senate Republican Leader Bill Dix of Shell Rock says it’s time to get this issue resolved.
In December, Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s administration put schools on notice: no more waivers would be granted for early school start dates. Unless legislators fashion some sort of compromise Branstad will accept, it means schools will have to follow current law which says schools are to start during the week in which September 1st falls. That means August 31st would be the earliest date for school starts in Iowa this year.
