Do we need to restore later start dates for our schools?

INDIANAPOLIS - Whenever lawmakers debate public education in Indiana, the discussions generally begin with funding for our schools. These talks are usually the most bitter of any session.

While improvements to the state's school funding formula are being studied this interim, there is another education issue that looks to be the most hotly debated in the 2010 session of the Indiana General Assembly.

The debate centers on this question: Do we need to change Indiana's school year?

School years used to be simple. You started after Labor Day and finished by Memorial Day.

These days, many kids head back to school in early August. In fact, as schools start to dabble in year-round calendars, the Labor Day-Memorial Day limits seem to be cherished memories of a simpler time.

Members of the Interim Study Committee on Education recently conducted a hearing on proposals to restore later start dates for schools.

One lawmaker already has announced his plans to file two separate measures on this issue. One would prevent school districts from starting academic years earlier than the fourth Monday in August, while the other would keep schools from starting before the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Advocates of later start dates fall into two categories. Parents want to see their kids have a longer summer so they can spend more family time together. Businesses believe early start dates deprive Indiana of tourism dollars and pull younger employees away from work during summertime.

In turn, many educators believe a long summer hinders student learning. They also point to potential conflicts with Indiana's mandatory 180-day school calendar. If the start of the school year is pushed back to Labor Day, won't the end of the school year be pushed back until later in June? How will this impact the usual breaks schools provide each spring and fall? If schools keep those breaks, would lengthening the school day be an alternative?

Also in the mix are those who have problems with the state mandating local school operations. Others wonder whether we should be debating the time spent in the classroom by numbers of hours, rather than numbers of days.

There are enough diverse opinions that this subject should make for spirited debate in the 2010 session.

School funding, on the other hand, always generates that type of debate. The amount of support our state provides our schools is generally the biggest point of disagreement during negotiations over any biennial state budget.

This interim, a legislative committee has started a two-year examination of the way that public education dollars are distributed. Its focal point will be the state's school funding formula.

It is safe to say that the number of people who truly understand the school funding formula probably can be counted on one hand. For the rest of us, trying to understand it is like being asked to decipher Sanskrit.

The school funding formula takes up 27 double-column pages in the Indiana Code. The worksheet used to translate the formula into numbers for each school district is 16 pages long.

If you go into state statute and look at the funding formula - it's at Indiana Code 20-43 - you will see terms like "transition to foundation revenue" and "foundation revenue per adjusted ADM" and "complexity indexes." These are all part of the calculations needed to finalize a funding formula and figure out how much state support your schools are getting.

When you wade through these pages and formulas, you see why some people think school funding should be reduced to its most basic element: a fixed amount per student.

If all the students in all the school corporations in Indiana were the same, such a plan might work. But they are not. Students learn at different rates. Students in rural school corporations face different challenges than students in large cities or suburbs. There are students who have learning disabilities and need special attention, as well as students who are on accelerated learning curves and want to prepare for college while they're in high school.

It is the responsibility of the Interim Study Committee on the School Funding Formula to try and translate this confusing language into something that can provide the best possible education for all schoolchildren. This group will continue its work next summer to try and have answers for the Legislature in its 2011 session.

If you have some thoughts or opinions on these issues, I encourage you to contact me.

Sandy Blanton is the District 62 State Representative. She can contacted by calling the toll-free 1-800-382-9842, by mail in care of the Indiana House of Representatives, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204, or submitting your comments to her web site at www.in.gov/H62.