Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa schools will be able to start fall classes as early as Monday, August 24th this year. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal withdrew his hold on a bill that will set August 23rd as the earliest date schools may start fall classes and the governor will sign the bill into law.
Last December Governor Branstad’s administration told superintendents they would no longer get waivers to start school early — meaning schools would have to start fall classes during the week in which September 1st falls. A bill that would set “on or after August 23rd” as a compromise school start date passed both the House and Senate, but Gronstal objected to the bill’s failure to allow year-round high schools in the future. Gronstal had put a hold on the bill last week.
Gronstal says lawmakers are now focusing on trying to get adequate funding for K-12 education.
Branstad says the state’s facing “some difficult financial circumstances” and cannot afford the four percent increase in general state school aid that Gronstal and his fellow Democrats propose.
