The Alabama Association of School Boards

Issue Briefs

School Start Date Threat Returns

Mandatory Uniform School Start Date Unfriendly to Public Education

Business and tourism advocates have been busy trying to secure more votes to enact their statewide school start bill. Lawmakers will consider the issue once again. Even if your school board had already passed a resolution opposing school start dates, the 2009 legislative battle will need timely, renewed efforts to make local boards’ position crystal clear.

Please plan to approve a school board resolution (see sample below) during your January meeting. Each member of the Alabama state legislature should receive a copy before the session begins Feb. 3.

A resolution alone is not enough, however. It is critical to communicate with your local lawmakers. Include them. Update them on your schools’ and students’ successes and challenges. Keep them informed, so each education vote is made knowing the impact on their schools.

Save Local Choices…Save Local Voices…
Alabama Association of School Boards

Local control of school calendars faces a battle each year in Montgomery. The tourism industry lobbies heavy support for bills that would force local school systems to push back the school start date and compromise their school calendars.

AASB unequivocally opposes proposed legislative mandates. School calendars are local decisions which make students the highest priority. Local school boards believe discussion about a “more acceptable date” for a mandatory school start date window is simply not appropriate because legislation on this issue is neither necessary nor proper. The state Department of Education confirmed that school boards voluntarily comply with the department’s requested date to put requirements of the No Child Left Behind law in place.

Lawmakers continue to receive heavy pressure from business interests. However, the legislation has not passed because lawmakers learned their local school calendars would not fit within the school start date parameters. Do your schools have a fall break? Do your schools have a block schedule? Do your students take exams before Christmas break? With the proposals, your calendar is compromised.

Local school boards’ message is “preserve local decision-making.” In Montgomery, discussion is about decisions that take place in over 130 school systems about student achievement, holiday preferences, conflicts with community events, programmatic partnerships with local colleges and universities and work days for educators to meet with parents.

This legitimate debate takes place where it belongs: locally. The public charges the school board with making those decisions and holds them responsible and accountable for student achievement.

There is no national movement for states to have a start date. Of the 14 states that have a start date, two are trying to repeal them, and two other states allow waivers.

Resolution Opposing School Start Date Legislation

WHEREAS, the ________ Board of Education is aware that members of the Alabama Legislature will consider legislation that would outline school start dates for public schools in the state of Alabama; and

WHEREAS, each local board of education already is required by Alabama Code §16-8-30 to set a uniform start date for all schools within its system, thereby recognizing that school calendars are local decisions; and

WHEREAS, unique local decisions take place in over 130 Alabama school systems regarding student achievement, holiday preferences, conflicts with community events, programmatic partnerships with local colleges and universities, and work days for educators to meet with parents; and

WHEREAS, the _______ Board of Education is the duly (elected or appointed) body foremost charged with making decisions that are in the best interest of its students and student achievement; and

WHEREAS, the _________ Board of Education and its faculty are held accountable for student achievement not only by the community, but under both state and federal accountability programs; and

WHEREAS, local decisions about school calendar directly impact student performance, student and faculty morale, and community input;

WHEREAS, a statewide school start date would compromise the _______ school system’s academic calendar and force students to lose instructional time prior to standardized testing; and

WHEREAS, the (school system)’s academic calendar is an education priority and not a business or tourism decision;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the _________ Board of Education unequivocally oppose statewide legislation on the school calendar and ask all members representing _______________ to vote against any bill which proposes to outline a statewide start date or calendar for Alabama public schools.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be recorded in the minutes of the __________ Board of Education and provided to the Alabama Association of School Boards, each member of the _________ Legislative Delegation and the Governor.

Done this the ___ day of _______ , 2009.