2007: TX schools to open Aug 27..no waivers allowed.

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/051906dntexschoolstart.22152915.html

While the spotlight was trained on school finance and property taxes during the Legislature's special session, lawmakers quietly slid the school start date back to the fourth Monday in August, starting next year. They also took away any chance for districts to get waivers that had allowed the start of school to creep ever closer to Aug. 1.

In 2007, school will start Aug. 27 – no exceptions.

The decision will force many districts to reconfigure their calendars, shorten their fall breaks or scrap them altogether and push semester exams to early January. And there will be adjustments for parents accustomed to sending their kids back to school up to three weeks earlier.

The new law replaces a toothless policy that has allowed districts to shift the school calendar toward early August. Classes are supposed to begin the week of Aug. 21, but waivers have been easy to come by. Last year, the Texas Education Agency allowed more than 70 percent of districts to open earlier.

[PDittie]

1. Semester exams to early January

I presume that means finals given after the Christmas break.

Now that sounds like fun for everyone.

[WestHoustonDem]

2. What a lovely senior year it will be for punk!

And a long summer for me! She has an interview for a summer job tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!

[rfkrfk]

12. fun, but not for the teachers who want to be paid

this is great for everyone except the teachers

the next milestone would be starting after
Labor Day...

the strugle continues

[Texaroo]

13. I thought you get paid for the school year - how is salary affected?

How would a delayed start make a difference? I'm not trying to knock anyone - I just really don't know how it would be a negative, other than the fact that there are fewer breaks during the year for in-service, staff development, etc.

My parents are are both retired teachers, so that's my frame of reference.

[WolverineDG]

14. You have a choice

(at least in the district where I worked). You got paid a salary for a 9 month contract. You could choose to have your salary paid out over 9 months or 12. So, throw out those notions that teachers get a "paid summer vacation."

dg

[rfkrfk]

15. I presume teachers would want to narrow their off-season...

otherwise, who wants kids in school when
it is 120 degees outside

[boot@9]

3. I thought legislators were for...

local control!

[WolverineDG]

4. They are

so long as it doesn't interfere with Fiesta Texas & Sea World's profit margins. They wanted the summer break extended so more people would go to the amusement parks. (no joke)

dg

[tammywammy]

5. I thought

that one of the other reasons was the electricity bills. If I remember correctly, Carole 4 Names said that it would cut the AC bills down since it was costing so much to keep the schools cool during the beginning/middle of August.

[WolverineDG]

6. If they were really worried about that

we'd have had year-round schools in Texas since the '70s. My dad was involved with the school district where I grew up (not on the board, but he knew most of the board members) & he always advocated for year-round schools so that the money spent on the AC wouldn't go to waste in empty rooms. The schools run the AC all year, regardless of whether the students are there or not.

dg

[tammywammy]

9. Thanks for the info

That makes sense.

[Longhorn]

11. Not all schools run the AC when not in session.

When I was teaching, I would sometimes go up to campus to work on my room or pick up supplies and if the AC was on, the thermostat was definitely set very high. I couldn't stay very long in the afternoon.

[NoPasaran]

18. Air conditioning? In the schools?!?!?!?

Back when I went to high school in El Paso we didn't have air conditioning in the schools.

[rainbow4321]

8. I noticed that they dropped one "reason"

Back before the immigration deal became an issue the lawmakers were also saying that the later school start would allow migrant workers to get back from their summer jobs in time for their kids to start school on the first day of school each year. With the early August start date, lots of the migrants' kids were missing at least a week of school. Now the articles/lawmakers seem to just mention the tourism industry.
As far as exams being after the winter break...I can see a bunch of locals hitting the roof over that deal. The families that plan their huge vacations over winter break (out of the country, etc..)won't be wanting their kids to need studying time during the family vacation.

[merci_me]

7. Works for me.............

I started school the day after Labor Day and my California grandkids started a bit later than that, since they often flew home from here, the day after Labor Day.

It will be nice for me to have all schools start the same day or at least late in August. I babysit with two grandkids and the second will be going to pre-K in another year and not the same school district as the one in elementary school. Plus, my son teaches and has to be there earlier. This year, that means I'm back to babysitting the littlest one on August 10. It gets "interesting" when your day revolves around 3 different ISDs with different start dates.

The speaker at our Democratic club last week was St.Rep. Scott Hochberg (if you ever have a chance to hear Scott on school issues, don't miss him!!). All I can say, is the starting date looks like the only "accomplishment" that came out of the special session.

[tammywammy]

10. In general, I like the idea of a late August start date

I graduated HS in '99 and it seemed that year, no only did we start school like on Aug 12 when it was still so damn hot out, but that every two weeks we were having a Friday off from school for something.

When I was in elementary and the beginning of junior high, we didn't have so many holidays and it really didn't seem to effect us.

[Son of Bentsen]

16. BS

Schools should open when they want within a timeframe. Whatever happened to local control?

[cosmik debris]

17. I remember when

Back in the 50's & 60's the Republicans demanded local control in order to keep the black people out of the white schools.

Now they hate local control because the black people vote for School Board Members.

The issue is not entirely racial, but the history of local control has a lot to do with how we treat the poor and the black people vs. how we treat the rich and the white people. It is no secret that the Republicans are always trying to find a way to screw the poor.