They won’t tell you the party affiliation of Peter Franchot, Rick Meehan and Sen. James N. Mathias Jr. – but I will. Oh, yes, I will: Democrats, the lot of ’em!
[pause]
Eastern Shore and Western Maryland lawmakers joined Comptroller Peter Franchot on Thursday in calling for school to start after Labor Day.
The proposed change, hailed as a way to promote family time and extend the tourist season, would have a $74.3 million economic impact, the Bureau of Revenue Estimates said in a new report. School starts this year in most school systems around the state Aug. 26, a week before Labor Day.
Ten days from now. Ten. More. Days.
Moe Lane
*I’m sure that there’s a Republican fool or two associated with this, too.
I just find it very weird how down here in Georgia the school year starts in early August. Back when I was a kid in Indiana, school never started until after Labor Day.
Most of Indiana is already back to school nowadays. Where I am (NW region), it starts next Wednesday.
My Dad always spoke of starting after Labor Day, but then again, he also talked of walking barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways.. 😀
When I was a kid here in Ga, the school year usually started in early September. Since the, summer vacation has gotten shorter and shorter….. IDK exactly why.
Less summer vacation total doesn’t make sense. Starting and ending earlier does; AP exams are in May, and an AP class after the exam is pretty much killing time. Also, you might be able to line up the semester break with Christmas break.
Yeah, I don’t get it.
When I was a kid, school started in mid-September. The bizarre thing is that this would have made sense if they’d done it six or even three months ago, since I’m sure some families would have taken advantage of the change to schedule their vacations. But changing the schedule less than two weeks in advance? Idiocy!
I strongly suspect that some of the costs of the change, as far as revision of school employees’ schedules and next year’s costs are concerned, have been glossed over for the sake of an accounting gimmick that seems to save a little money this year.
Promote family time? Do politicians really think we take 12-15 weeks of vacation every summer? I mean, I know THEY do, but us common, working folk don’t get the summer off. Another week of summer vacation is another week I have to coordinate some kind of activity/care for my kids. There’s no extra family time – unless they spend that week with grandparents…
I don’t know, this just elicits a shrug from me. My kids (here is SE Michigan) start after labor day whereas my sister-in-laws kids (just across the border in NW Ohio) are already back. Of course the trade-off is in the spring they’re out of school long before my kids. I see no issue with shifting the school year a week or so this way or that way. If they think a shift would allow businesses to squeeze out a few more tourist dollars, well, go for it.
Here in Mi my kids start after Labor Day, law was passed a few years ago for that very reason, tourism. Nieces started already but get out sooner. As long as they get the number of days in, I don’t care when they start