LITTLE ROCK — The House Education Committee recommended a bill Tuesday to give school districts flexibility on the dates classes start.
House Bill 1099 by Rep. Homer Lenderman, D-Brookland, was opposed by marina and resort owners who said it would reduce the number of days families can spend money vacationing on lakes.
But officials from three education groups testified it would give teachers more days to prepare students for standardized tests.
Lenderman, a retired teacher, said his proposal wouldn’t change the dates of football practice or football games and would keep the same the number of days that students must go to school.
HB1099 would allow districts to start school as early as Aug. 14 and not later than Aug. 26.
Current law says that school may start as early as Aug. 19 and no later than Aug. 26.
Under the bill, local school boards would continue to have the option to pick among those days in deciding when to start school.
Officials from the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, the Arkansas School Boards Association, and the Arkansas Education Association each testified in favor of the bill. They said it would be give districts more time to prepare for the state benchmark tests.
But Montine McNulty, executive director of the Arkansas Hospitality Association, and operators of a marina in Mountain Home and a resort on Lake Ouachita said the bill would cut into peak tourism days in August. They said people typically don’t like to go on vacation as much in June so it would be unlikely the lake spending would shift to an earlier month.
HB1099 next goes to the House for consideration.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 02/02/2011