Future uncertain for House-passed school start bill

DES MOINES - Families can pencil in a visit to the Iowa State Fair, the Iowa Great Lakes or any other late summer tourist attraction thanks to legislation to delay the start of the school year until the fourth Monday in August.

Unless, that is, they can't afford a vacation, opponents of the measure said during debate Tuesday. The bill, which faces an uncertain future in the Senate where similar legislation has been approved in the past, cleared the House on a bipartisan 56-44 vote.

Also Tuesday, the House voted 59-40 along party lines to approve a $2.9 billion “standings” budget. It includes provisions calling for state employees and elected officials to pay 25 percent of their health insurance premiums, which would represent a $50 million savings to taxpayers.

The state now pays about $328 million a year in health insurance premiums to cover about 80,000 people, according to the Department of Administrative Services. About 87 percent of state employees pay no monthly premium, and paying one-quarter of the premium would cost them between $200 and $300 a month.

The annual standings bill that covers a variety of appropriations also includes a $55 million increase to fully fund property tax credits and a $34.6 million increase to bring K-12 education spending to $2.6 billion, said floor manager Rep. Nick Wagner, R-Marion. The House plan is about $22 million less than the governor's budget.

The standings bill and its amendments include increases as well in line items for child abuse prevention and the Congenital and Inherited Disorders Central Registry, and call for paying college tuition costs for the children of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

In debating the school start date, House members touted the benefits for the state's tourism industry of a later opening to the academic year. Opponents of the bill, which popped up after typical legislative deadlines had passed, argued that the school start date was a matter of local control. They also said nearly a third of Iowa families with students in school can't afford vacations.

In 2006, the Senate voted 40-9 to require schools start no earlier than Aug. 25. However, the following year an amendment on the topic by Sen. David Johnson, R-Ocheyedan, whose district includes the Iowa Great Lakes, died on a 25-25 bipartisan vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, has assured him the House bill “will get a chance to move through the process,” Johnson said.

In other action, the House approved a change in state law to retain the Department of Natural Resources' “chickadee checkoff” and three other charity options Iowans see on their state tax forms. The checkoffs raise about $350,000 a year.

Under current law, when the same four checkoffs have been on the state income tax form for two consecutive years, the two that have raised the least amounts are automatically repealed. There's only room to list four charities on the paper state income tax form, which is the way about 200,000 Iowans file, according to the Department of Revenue.

The DNR's “chickadee checkoff” is the most popular checkoff charity, followed by the State Fair Foundation's “corn dog checkoff.” However, the measure approved Tuesday would retain the other two checkoffs as well, which raise funds to help veterans and firefighters and benefit a program to prevent child abuse.

The bill has been approved by the Senate 48-0.

On a voice vote, the House refused to concur with the Senate on a revised $62 million budget for economic development programs, which that included $20 million for state business incentives, $200,000 to keep the Iowa Film Office operating, and $2.3 million to maintain or reopen Iowa Workforce Development field offices. That budget will go to a conference committee.