Classes can't start until Fair is over
Mandate slipped into budget legislation

BETH SILVER
Pioneer Press

7/02/05

Classrooms across the state are required to remain empty until after the State Fair concludes on Labor Day under a little-noticed mandate tacked onto budget legislation the governor signed this week.

Lawmakers approved the measure requiring public school districts to start the school year after the holiday after lobbyists for the Fair and the tourism industry argued that business suffered when children had to be in class before the weekend's start.

Districts' schedules this fall will remain in place; the new law doesn't go into effect until the 2006-07 school year.

The Fair runs for 12 days until Labor Day, and the Labor Day weekend is traditionally one of the busiest of the year for northern Minnesota resorts. Even Northwest Airlines and Sun Country Airlines noticed a dip in bookings when school started before the holiday, said the provision's sponsor, Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker.

"All the schools in the state will start on the same day. We'll have consistency and conformity. That matters when people set their schedules throughout the state," Howes said.

But state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said the decision should have been left to individual school districts.

"It's very frustrating for school boards and superintendents to plan educational programs when the Legislature continues to constrain their autonomy," Seagren said.

The later date may force school districts that want a long school year to hold classes well into June, she said.

State law had allowed districts to start as early as Sept. 1. St. Paul, Roseville and Falcon Heights' school districts started after Labor Day, though, because school buses had trouble getting through State Fair crowds, Seagren said.

The post-Labor Day mandate bypassed education finance committees in the House and Senate, where the leaders of those committees said the legislation was unlikely to advance. Instead, it was added on the House floor as an amendment to the economic-development, jobs and environment bill. Senate leaders agreed to it in conference committee, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the bill Thursday.

The tourism industry had been lobbying for the school-start change for years. But this was the first year the State Fair joined the effort, said the Fair's lobbyist, Joe Bagnoli.

In 2004, the Sept. 1 school start fell on the Wednesday before Labor Day. The Fair nearly emptied out, and some students who wanted to participate in the Fair's 4-H activities couldn't do so, Bagnoli said.