School leaders ask state to start school early - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

The Sioux City Community School District will again ask for permission to start the school year earlier.

In an effort to boost tourism, state law prevents schools from starting before Labor Day.

Districts can request a waiver, which is exactly what Sioux City and many other Iowa schools have done for years.

The main reason, say school officials, is to allow high school students to take their finals before winter break.

"I think it's much better for student achievement.  The kids have the opportunity to go ahead and finish all the semester tests before they go on their break, otherwise we were finding that kids would come back and the teachers would have to retrain some of the things.  They would have to go over them, it was harder for them to get back into the mode," explained the district's human resources manager Jull Knuth.

Knuth says once the state approves the waiver they'll set the start day for school at August 16th.