TX schools new start date in September---mandatory, no waivers.

Wow, this was slipped on thru and the schools are pretty pissed.

Personally, having grown up in the Northeast, I prefer the later start date..I live in Plano now and the kids had one year where they started start like Aug 1st or 2nd!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/051305dntexstartingdate.a08a0db7.html

The amendment was unexpectedly approved late Wednesday as senators debated a massive bill to overhaul school finance. The bill's author, Sen. Florence Shapiro, fought the amendment offered by Mr. Lucio, but two-thirds of senators went along with him.

The House passed the same requirement when it approved school-finance legislation in March. So, while the two chambers are about to start negotiating differences in their separate school finance bills, the usually divisive issue of when students should start classes has already been decided. Any bill that passes both chambers is almost certain to contain this provision.

"It's a new mandatory start date and it will be in the final bill since both houses have agreed to it," Ms. Shapiro said. "My school districts were against it, so I was against it. But even if most districts were opposed to it, they obviously didn't do a very good job of convincing their senators about it."

Under the Senate and House bills, the new starting date would be effective in 2006. The measures also provide that classes must end each school year by June 7. Specifically exempted are the small number of students in year-round classes.

The tourism industry.

Wisconsin passed a similar law a couple years ago, requiring school to start AFTER Labor Day weekend. The tourist spots in the north of the state like the extra income, and they get more visitors if school hasnt started yet.

"But even if most districts were opposed to it, they obviously didn't do a very good job of convincing their senators about it."

I think it should read "the lobbyist$ did a better job than TX parents of convincing the senators..."

She represents one of the richest, neocon reddest counties in TX----which is MINE, unfortunately...I bet the schools are throwing a hissy fit this morning that even all their $$$ didn't help them get their way this time around.

Bless the legislature, for doing what parents want.

apparently, teachers fail to convince
parents that teacher convience is best for parents.

to be the case here. Our teachers hate what the lege has done: every time they give teachers a "raise" they up the number of days on the school calendar. Teachers here would love to start after Labor day and finish by June--but it's hell to do with adding more days to 'justify' a "raise". And as for getting paid earlier....well, teachers are paid a set amount monthly, regardless of when the start date of school is. If anybody is responsible for this fiasco, it's a misbegotten legislature that thinks it is promoting "accountability" when all it is doing is convincing people that teachers don't do their jobs. To that, I say a resounding,"BULLSHIT!"

since they are paid on 180-day contracts, they are given the option of getting their salaries in either 9 checks (1 per month for each month of the school year) or 12 checks (1 per month, even when school is not in session). This was done because one year during the time teachers were forced to get only 9 checks per year, they went & filed for unemployment during the summer months. I knew of a couple of teachers who opted for the 9 check plan, but they had spouses so could afford to do it.

So, don't say that teachers "get a paid vacation in the summer." They are merely getting the salary they've already EARNED.

dg--former texas teacher

Promised myself I would not forget how I felt then, just because I am now all "grown up."

I could never get used to the Texas schedule. School in August? Yeesh!

I spoke to several teachers and none of them expressed any opposition to it. I don't know how representative my sample was.

I'm not in school anymore, but I know I would've been a fan when I was in school. I never understood the August start date in TX, while it's generally Sept. in the north. It's too damn hot here to have school starting in August. I never understood why we started so early.

I don't know why this bill came up or was passed, but I'm always willing to bet it was for the most asinine of reasons if it comes out of the TX legislature. Most of those folks are lower than pond scum. But personally, I'm just not seeing the bad side of this, but have heard that many teachers aren't fans of it. My dad is a school principal and my mom and sister are both teachers and they seem cool with it, too.

The one thing about August school is that you get to spend the worst month of the year indoors, with real air conditioning, not my mother's let's-save-money-and-set-the-thermostat-to-83-degrees house.

My recollection of the two summers I spent in Houston growing up was that by August, you pretty much had nothing to do but sit in front of the TV set.

Summer vacation is for Yankees. We should keep our schools on a mid-May end date.

in August. Texas is too hot to be survivable in that month and sometimes it extends into much of July and even September as well.

The problem is that it is becoming so expensive to travel that it won't matter if they call off school entirely. No one but the idle rich is going to go on vacation trips as was done in the golden era of this country, which will be seen in retrospect as the post-World War II years up until the mid-1970s.

Comptroller Whatsherlatestname estimates the new schedule will save $790 million per year in utility bills. I am all for it for that reason alone. When I was a kid, I hated having to start school in mid-August. These kids just need to have a lot of their holidays during the year scrapped. Go to school continuously and get it over with. That's the way I would want it if I were their age again.

My grandparents retired to Florida, where all my first cousins were living as well.

Later, I lived in Florida. I learned that if there's an upside to divorced parents, it's the arrangements that allowed the Ohio parent to have custody in the summer.

Now I have children of my own. Of course, since the schools no longer do anything other than remedial education, I couldn't care less when school starts and ends, since we're lucky enough to have the income to just keep the kids at home. It also gives my wife a chance to take the kids up north for a month as well.

by starting school in August, it means that the two most common extracurricular activities -- band and football -- start in August, if not BEFORE, what with band camp and football practice. You wanna talk about a NIGHTMARE? Try band camp or football practice in the middle of August. I don't know why they do it, but they do!

Which puts the kids out in the 100 degrees AND polluted air. A few years ago when my kids were in elementary school they lost their recess time cuz it was Ozone Alert day til, oh, October. But as you say, the football and band kids had no choice to be outside.

My oldest kid/12 grader won't be in the TX school system when this all kicks in but she has put in her 2 cents...hates the thought of our district's kids losing their Fall Break (first week of October). Plano gives their kids a week off in Oct. to make up for starting the first week of August. That is sure to be gone now. I imagine Xmas/winter break will be altered somehow, too.
This is the district that would pack the "commmunity input" meeting with their district workers <who all wanted an August start date> and then tell the state "see, our community wants to start in August"--so they would get a waiver to start early. They most likely all have their panties in a wad over this.
Being from the East Coast, I am all for starting after Labor Day.
They were smart to put the June 7th deadline for last day of school in there, cuz no doubt our school district would have kept the kids in school til the end of June!