c	NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release July 19, 2004 For More Information Contact: Tina Bruno at 210-559-5277 State Lawmakers Want Later School Start Date So Parents, Educators Review AYP Reports In Time    Federal Funding For State Education Departments, Local Schools At Risk    Lawmakers in several states have been pushing for a later start to the school year spurred by the financial crisis facing public education and by the strong belief that schools will improve with the timely release of federally mandated Adequate Yearly Progress reports.     Their efforts have met with mixed reaction from their colleagues in most states. But a grass roots coalition of parents, teachers and business leaders is hoping to educate the public about the importance of these AYP reports so pending and future bills will succeed.   States all across the country put federal funding for education at risk if they release critical data about local schools after the first day of school. It started with the No Child Left Behind Act, the sweeping education reform bill that Congress passed in December 2001. The law requires public schools to test every student in grades 3-8 in the areas of reading and math. Starting with the 2006-07 school year, science tests will be added.    Schools must report student passing rates on these tests broken down by grade, economic background, race and ethnicity, English proficiency and disability. AYP reports provide a wealth of data, but probably most important to parents are the comparisons: How did my child's grade level at school compare to the same grade level across the school district? Or to the same grade level last year? Are African-American students passing at the same rates as other races and ethnicities? If not, what are my school officials doing to improve the learning environment?    The goal is to give parents the information they need to make important decisions about their children's education. For example, campuses that don't meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards for two consecutive years must offer supplemental instructional services to students, such as tutoring, or allow students to transfer to another school in the district.    But if the AYP reports are released after school starts -- or even on the first day of school as required by law -- the valuable insight that they provide may go to waste, says Tina Bruno, executive director of Time to Learn.    "It's like having all the tools you need to change a flat tire, but there's no spare tire. It doesn't do you any good," said Bruno, who heads a non-profit, grass roots coalition of parents, teachers, administrators and businesses concerned about the negative impact the early August school start date and the year-round school calendar have on our children, families and teachers.    "We believe parents should have time to review Adequate Yearly Progress reports long before the first day of school," Bruno said. "They need time to study it, to pose questions to the principal and teachers and to decide if they want to send their child to another school if theirs isn't meeting the goals laid out in No Child Left Behind."     "You can't do any of those things if the report is released months after school starts, or even on the first day of school. And the early August start to school just makes it harder to meet the goals of No Child Left Behind."    Bruno is not alone. U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, former White House Senior Education Advisor Sandy Kress and state lawmakers across the country are advocating that Adequate Yearly Progress reports see the light of day before school begins. In some cases, lawmakers want schools to follow a more traditional calendar starting in late August or after Labor Day.     State lawmakers have been spurred, in part, by the threat of financial punishment. The federal government has the right to withhold a portion of education funding for a state's public schools if it fails to release AYP reports by the first day of school. In Georgia, that could cost the state 25 percent of the administrative portion of Title I funds &endash; approximately $800,000.     Additionally, thousands of students regularly miss the first day of school because classes start so early. Last year, Birmingham, Alabama school officials reported 6,000 students were absent on the first day of school, costing the school system $780,000 because student attendance is tied to school funding.    The Alabama State Board of Education adopted a resolution last November urging schools to start school no earlier than August 9 so the state could comply with No Child Left Behind. Although August 9 may sound early, eight school districts in Alabama started school before that date last year. What's more, the Alabama Department of Education does not expect to have Adequate Yearly Progress reports ready to disseminate this year until August 12, when students in 108 of the state's 131 school districts are already back in class.    Alabama state lawmaker Rep. Craig Ford filed a bill creating a school start date window between August 18 and August 21. Although it did not pass in the last legislative session, Ford says he plans to re-introduce the bill and lobby for a later school start date.    "There are a ton of reasons why our children should not be in class during the hottest time of the year, ranging from skyrocketing utility bills to the parental headaches created by the cumbersome schedule," Ford said. "Now, there's another good reason to try to move the start of school back to a more traditional and reasonable date. Adequate Yearly Progress reports should be a powerful resource for improving the quality of our schools, but the early school start date cripples their effectiveness."    At least Alabama schools will receive the reports around the start of school. In Texas, officials say AYP reports won't be available until November thanks to delayed federal approval of specific No Child Left Behind mandates.     Last year, 38 school districts in Georgia began instruction before Adequate Yearly Progress reports became available. Because their state already had been fined more than three-quarters of a million dollars for failing to meet specific testing requirements of No Child Left Behind, State Representatives Butch Parish and Matt Dollar sponsored House Bill 1635, which would have codified federal education law and provided safeguards to ensure Georgia teachers, parents and students received the required information regarding Adequate Yearly Progress well before the start of the school year.     In Oklahoma, where the largest school districts have moved to late August school start dates after realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings from lower electric bills, State Rep. Odilia Dank has tried to introduce legislation mandating a more traditional school start date. In Arizona, the chairwoman of the House Education Committee, Linda Gray, has made similar efforts, to no avail. Arizona education officials say they plan to release their AYP reports on September 1, when school will already have started. California education officials also are planning on a September 1 release.    AYP reports aren't the only area where state education officials are struggling when it comes to No Child Left Behind, according to a study by the non-partisan Education Commission of the States. USA Today reports that the ECS study, which was released on July 14, shows that all 50 states have met or are "partially on track" to meeting half of the 40 requirements. Only five states &emdash; Connecticut, Kentucky, New York, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania &emdash; have met or are partially on track to meeting all 40.    Time to Learn is a non-profit, grass roots coalition of parents, teachers, administrators and businesses concerned about the negative impact the early August school start date and the year-round school calendar have on our children, families and teachers. Time to Learn is dedicated to providing grass roots assistance across the nation to families and teachers who are fighting bloated school calendars and year-round school calendars in their area. BACK