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Rep. Robert W. Godshall (R-Montgomery) Now that school is ending for the summer, perhaps it's time to think about when school begins in the fall. Or, more accurately, when school begins in late summer, since more and more Pennsylvania school districts are bringing children back in the heat of August-even as early as August 22-instead of the traditional starting date, the Tuesday after Labor Day. I have introduced legislation, HB1968, as a way to restore the traditional school starting day without affecting the 180-day education requirement and while still providing options for an earlier opening when circumstances require it. I want to emphasize that the bill does not affect the current education requirement for students. The education of Pennsylvania children is still paramount and will not be compromised by this bill. I should point out that many schools in the state open after Labor Day already, and no one could accuse them of not maintaining a high quality of education. These schools start after Labor Day and still end the school year in early June. As a former school board member for 17 years, I know that all it takes is the will and commitment to do it. According to a recent statewide poll by Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, waiting until after Labor Day to begin the school year was favored by 64 percent of people surveyed who expressed an opinion on the issue. Starting school before Labor Day may not seem like a pressing problem, but for many people-families, students and the community alike-it is. Family vacations are disrupted by an early start. The long Labor Day week and weekend is a major travel holiday for families seeking a final few days off together before school begins. Vacations may be postponed or children may have to miss school, and for these reasons there have been occasions of substantial absenteeism during that pre-holiday week of school. Furthermore, starting school in August frequently means students have more non-holiday days off built in throughout the school year. This forces working parents to take off work or find child care for those days, which may not be holidays at their own workplace. In many cases school years are getting longer because of the number of non-holiday days off for students, not because the number of education days are being increased. In a survey of about a dozen school district calendars, I found a potential non-holiday weekday off for every 9 to 10 days of school. When school opens is also important to businesses that depend upon student workers during the summer, as well as to the students who depend upon that summer job income to earn college money. Young workers may not have access to those jobs in which they have to commit to working through the Labor Day weekend-one of the busiest times of the year for many businesses-or they may not be able to get any bonuses that are incentives for working the holiday weekend. That's not fair to them. Teachers, too, are speaking out in favor. By a vote of 280-14, a poll of teachers in a Montgomery County school district showed overwhelming support for starting school for students after Labor Day. There's an economic impact as well. The Legislative Budget and Finance Committee is currently studying the impact of early school starts on Pennsylvania's economy, and the report should be ready by July. A study in Texas by that state's comptroller showed a negative economic impact of hundreds of millions of dollars from extending the school year into August. It's clear that the decision to start school early has ramifications for the entire community. And that's an important point. Schools are members of the community. They have a responsibility to work cooperatively with the community just as the community has a responsibility to them through funding, parental support, and so on. HB1968 would not prevent school districts from having in-service days for teachers before Labor Day, and it wouldn't go into effect until 2007 at the earliest. Opponents of my bill - mostly school board members, and a few superintendents - say that school boards will lose power over this. In actuality, school districts are a creation of the legislature and are subject to its regulation under Article III, Section 14 of the state constitution as well as the Public School Code. The General Assembly delegates some of that responsibility to school boards. School boards will still have the authority to set their opening date, as long as it is not earlier than the day after Labor Day. And the precedent is already in state law-schools can't operate on Sundays and certain specified holidays: Memorial Day, July 4th, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's Day and up to 5 local holidays. Virginia, Minnesota and Michigan have a similar opening day law on the books already. The issue was debated in Texas last year and polled very favorably among citizens there. Wisconsin and North Carolina have a September 1 minimum. My bill is gaining more and more support. Sen. James Rhoades, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, has stated that he would support bringing post-Labor-Day starting legislation up for a vote when it comes to the Senate. Starting school after Labor Day just makes sense. The holiday is already considered the unofficial end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Let's make it official. CapNews Guest Speaker: Archives |
