The Colorado House Education Committee today sent a bill to the floor that would change the official student-count date to avoid conflicts with religious observances.
Rep. Sal Pace , D-Pueblo , said he is sponsoring the bill to ensure that the annual date used by school districts to establish enrollment for funding purposes doesn’t fall on a major religious holiday.
The state’s official pupil enrollment day is Oct. 1. The day has fallen three times on a Jewish high holy day, either Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, since 2006, said Joyce Rubin with the Anti-Defamation League of the Mountain States office. In 2011 the count day fell during Rosh Hashanah.
Observant Jews do no work or school on sacred days, Rubin told the committee.
“It’s a recurring problem,” Rubin said. “This (bill) is a simple way to remedy the confusion and conflict.”
The Jewish lunar calendar dicates when the high holy days occur, so they fall on different dates of the calendar in secular use. Rep. Sue Schafer, D-Wheat Ridge, pointed out the change could also benefit other faiths, such as Islam, with holy days in the fall.
The official count date, established by the state legislature more than a decade ago for all Colorado schools, is Oct. 1, except when Oct. 1 falls on a Saturday or Sunday. Then it’s stipulated to be either Sept. 30 or Oct. 2.
Pace’s bill holds that in any year when Oct. 1 falls on the weekend, or on any major religious holiday or other day when school isn’t in session, the count day is first school day immediately following the conclusion of the affected holiday.
Colorado Department of Education rules already offer a reprieve — an 11-day window, five days before and five after the count date, during which a school also can document a student’s physical presence for purposes of funding, some $7,000 per pupil.
Yet this exception isn’t always made clear to parents, who can feel conflicted, Pace said. And school officials have told the Post it makes more work for schools to try to track students absent on the count date.
Jan Rose Petro, director of data and research for the Education Department, told committee members the bill would be helpful. Committee members voted unanimously by noon to send it to the House floor for further consideration.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
