Panel says school-start proposals need more study

A legislative study committee declined Monday to endorse the idea of a uniform, later start date for Indiana schools, voting
instead to send the issue back to fellow lawmakers for more debate and study.

After deciding the General Assembly
should continue looking into the idea, the Interim Study Committee on Education voted to ask the Legislative Services Agency
to compile data on school energy consumption and transportation costs related to the issue.

The panel asked the
LSA, the Legislature’s nonpartisan research arm, to report its findings to lawmakers by year’s end, before they reconvene
in January for their next session.

Committee Chairman Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said the testimony the panel
heard this fall from parents and educators showed strong opinions on the topic, with the strongest divide over whether school
start dates should be set by local districts.

He had asked panel members to consider two proposals this fall. One
would prohibit schools from starting earlier than the fourth Monday in August, and the other would require schools to start
classes after Labor Day.

Kruse, who has supported pushing back school start dates, said there are several arguments
in favor of doing so, including reducing the costs of cooling classrooms by delaying the start of classes.

"It’s
expensive to air condition in August," he said after the meeting. "And if you don’t have air conditioning in those
sweltering hot days the kids don’t learn as well."

Kruse said a later school start date also would give families
more prime vacation time.

Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, said school start dates should be left up to school
districts, but he agreed the General Assembly should address the issue.

"We need to look at this holistically
and look at the real impact statewide," said Porter, chairman of the House Education Committee.

At least two
lawmakers intend to sponsor bills in the next legislative session seeking to push back school start dates, and there’s a good
change he’ll give those bills a hearing, said Kruse, who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

Any legislation
would have to include an exemption for the roughly 20 Indiana school districts that have year-round classes, he said.

Many Indiana school districts start classes in early or mid-August. Some have started earlier in recent years because statewide
standardized tests were given in the fall, and school officials said students needed time in August to prepare for the tests.

But proponents of a later start date note the tests are now given in the spring.