Save Our Summers

An increasing number of states are pushing back against the encroachment of the school calendar into August. South Carolina and Michigan are just two of the recent success stories that feature parents groups stepping up to wage grass-roots campaigns to reverse the trend.

Most states that have been successful have used research that has shown between 70-80% of citizens support a traditional post-Labor Day start for schools. What I haven't seen is definitive research that shows the economic hit that early school starts create.

That is, until last week.

That's when I had the pleasure of talking to Monica Froedge, the head of the Save Kentucky Summers campaign, who shared with me some recent research that paints a chilling picture of just how economically reckless an early school start is to a tourism economy. Get a load of these numbers:

• August visitor spending is 84% of July spending (despite generally better weather and less competition with extracurricular youth activities.

• Kentucky tourism establishments employed 3,245 fewer people in August than July, representing $54 million in lost wages.

• And, over $19 million in taxes were lost to Kentucky state and local government due, in large part to an early school start.

There are so many reasons to return to a post-Labor Day School Start...and we've just seen another one.

Comments

[Jim Epperson]

Bill,

Stan Hodge, former research mgr., Texas Tourism, had a wonderful study that, as I remember him telling me, showed:

1. No significant increase in standardized test scores associated with early school start;
2. Tax revenue loss directly attributable to early school start;
3. Increased costs for schools for utilities (A/C in TX in August??)

http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/ssd/

I think the study was updated since this 2000 version.

In Indiana, about a month ago, our Governor and Supt. of Public Instruction announced a move for our standardized test - ISTEP - to spring from a fall date. Now, we have the precursor done, we'll be working on legislation in the upcoming session.

[Michael]

The important question for school administrators is, "Are there any academic reasons that it is better to start school before Labor Day?"

[Scott Dring]

Hi Bill, we are working here in Ohio on this front...This past August the extreme heat caused many schools to use a large portion of their calamity days for the year, just another reason for a post Labor Day start.

[Bill Geist]

Jim: Great to know there are other definitive economic studies.

Scott: Congratulations...and I look forward to working with OACVB on this concept in January.

And Michael: Bang on...and after ten years of these discussions/debates all over the country, I've never seen a shred of evidence that points to lower test scores with a post-Labor Day start. In fact, here in Wisconsin (before the change), we compared post-Labor Day schools to pre-Labor Day schools and found that the post-Labor Day scores averaged higher.

That is NOT something we used, as the sample size was small and there are other factors that surely contributed as well. But it was clear that it didn't hurt them.