The Legislative Solution to Calendar Excesses

This article will bring you up to date on some exciting new developments in the battle against early school start dates. First, here is a quiz about the history of education.

Name a discredited educational fad:
A. Open multi-class classrooms.
B. Whole-language.
C. "Modern" Math.
D. Early August school start dates.
E. All of the above.

The correct answer is E.


Which of the following discredited educational fads is illegal in NC, TX, FL, MN, SC, VA and WI?
A. Open multi-class classrooms.
B. Whole language.
C. "Modern" Math.
D. Early August school start dates.
E. All of the above.

The correct answer is D. More and more states are banning early August start dates as they recognize the detrimental effects these school calendars have on families, students and state economies. State legislatures in GA, AL and TN are also considering legislation to ban early school start dates.

So, why the strong action by states to establish control over school calendars? This is a legislative response to the efforts by some school districts scattered around the country to impose school start dates earlier than favored by the populace. In these days of tight state budgets, legislators are also wary of the increased economic costs of early school start dates.

Here is a summary of state laws and pending legislation for selected states in the South and Midwest.

North Carolina: State law, schools may start no earlier than Aug 21.
Texas: State law, schools may start no earlier than Aug 21.
Florida: State law, schools may start no earlier than 14 days before Labor Day.
Minnesota, State law, schools may not start before Labor Day.
South Carolina: State law, schools may not start before the third week
in August (beginning 2007-8).
Virginia: State law, schools must start after Labor Day.
Wisconsin: State law, schools must start after September 1.
Georgia: Proposed legislation, schools would start on or after Sept 1.
Alabama: Proposed legislation, schools would start no earlier than
August 21.
Tennessee: Proposed legislation, schools would start no earlier than August 25.

Florida and Texas are two of the states to most recently adopt school calendar laws. Polls showed that 64% of adult Texans wanted school to start after Labor Day. (Dallas Morning News May 19, 2006). 74% of Florida voters preferred a late August school start date. (Orlando Sentinel May 5, 2006).

State legislatures have also been concerned about the high economic costs of early school start dates. The negative economic impact is due to a number of factors, including increased cooling costs for schools during the hottest parts of the year, lost wages for students and teachers who have shorter summer work sessions, harm to the tourism economy from decreased travel in late summer and decreased availability of seasonal workers.

In Tennessee 181,300 people are employed each year as seasonal workers in tourism, the state's second largest revenue producing industry. 53% of those workers come from the school systems. Tourism contributes $8 billion to Tennessee's economy each year and $600 million in local and state tax revenues.Decreased availability of seasonal workers due to early school starts certainly has a negative impact on the local and state economies.

South Carolina recently passed a state law regulating school start dates after a University of South Carolina study documented the negative economic impact that early school start dates were having on the state economy. "With the lost August vacation period restored, more South Carolina tourist related businesses will stay open as the supply of labor is not reduced when school opens. At public hearings, business owners from across the state said early August school starts drained youth employment and forced businesses to close early during August by up to three weeks."

A study in Texas found that starting school two weeks earlier cost the state $790 million. "The benefits of stretching the school year have not been proved; what we do know-it's costing Texans $790 million annually," says Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller

Georgia's proposed law anticipates increased tax revenue of $114 per student with later school start dates and this new money will be passed along to the school districts.

A secondary benefit of school start date legislation is that fragmentation of five-day instructional school weeks would be reduced. Since the calendar could no longer sprawl into summer vacation to accommodate the non-instructional days, more intact five-day weeks of teaching and learning are maintained.

The Citizens Calendar Committee endorses intact five-day instructional weeks as one of its core principles. We believe that fragmentation of school weeks with insertion of non-instructional days such as focus days, power days, miscellaneous break days, and other non-learning days works against continuity of teaching and learning.

We believe that the 2007-8 calendar being considered by the Williamson County School Board, while not a full fledged "balanced" calendar, starts school too early (August 13), incorporates too many non-instructional days and has too few intact five-day instructional weeks.

The proposed legislation in Tennessee specifies that "the school year shall commence no earlier than August 25."


Until the Tennessee State legislature passes a law that regulates the school calendar, local school boards will have free authority to set school calendar parameters. It will be up to individual citizens and grass roots organizations like the Citizens Calendar Committee to educate the public and provide information to local school boards so they can make informed decisions that reflect the will of their constituents. If you have an opinion about early school start dates and fragmentation of school weeks that you would like to share with our Williamson County School Board, click here.


To express an opinion to your state senator and congressman about school calendars, click here.