Support grows for later school start

Linda Trimble
Daytona Beach News-Journal
10/05/05

Erin Donohoe isn't a big fan of starting school in early August, but she sees it as a trade-off for finishing first semester exams before winter vacation and wrapping up classes in May.

Even so, the DeLand High sophomore and thousands like her around Florida may soon see their classes starting around -- or even after -- Labor Day.

"We're just not in sync with the rest of the country," said state Rep. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, who plans to file a bill soon that would require Florida public schools to start classes the day after Labor Day.
Sobel is among South Florida lawmakers who have gotten an earful of complaints from parents -- and some teachers -- about the increasingly early start of classes that allows more time to prepare students for the high-stakes FCAT given in February and March.

The backlash has prompted some state officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, to call for a uniform starting date for classes sometime around Labor Day. But Volusia school officials want to keep control over the county's calendar and say the state is trying to step in where it doesn't belong.
"Every time we turn around, the state is mandating more and more of how education needs to be delivered while delivering less and less of the revenue," said Volusia School Board Chairwoman Candace Lankford.

Area schools have long started classes before Labor Day. But it was only after the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test became the yardstick for school ratings, high school graduation and early-grades promotion that Volusia started backing up the start date to allow more preparation time before the test.

Between 1991 and 1999, Volusia moved the start of classes from Aug. 26 to Aug. 7, where it has hovered ever since. Volusia students started classes on Aug. 8 this year, with Flagler schools opening on Aug. 4.

"It is lunacy to begin school the first week of August," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, who has already filed a bill for the 2006 legislative session that calls for school to start no earlier than seven days before Labor Day.

Gelber said an early August start is unfair to families because it limits time for trips and cuts short opportunities for children to participate in summer programs. Also, he pointed to potential problems during the steamy month such as hurricanes and air-conditioning systems breaking down.

But it is unclear whether lawmakers will go along with Gelber's idea. A spokesman for House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, said Bense thinks school boards should continue to decide when to start the academic year.

"I still believe leaving this up to school districts is very important, especially when we're holding their feet to the fire on accountability," agreed Sen. Evelyn Lynn, an Ormond Beach Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee.

Volusia School Board members, the teachers union president and several parents who have served on the district's school calendar committee support keeping the decision at the local level. At the very least, they said, FCAT testing would need to be pushed back along with the start date.

"If you're expecting to measure a child in third grade for a full year's knowledge, it needs to be as full a year (of instruction) as possible," said board member Vicki Bumpus.

"We'll do whatever the Legislature tells us to do," said Flagler assistant superintendent Riza Cohen. "My concern is that (starting around Labor Day) will cut almost a month off from instruction before students take FCAT."

Sherry Sturner, a Miami-area mother of two who helped organize the campaign for later school start dates, rejects that argument by saying there's no reliable research showing FCAT scores go up when classes begin earlier. A 2003 Senate study found no relationship between the two, Lynn added.

Sturner said more than 2,000 e-mails supporting a later school start have been sent to legislators and School Board members in the last two months through a Web site sponsored by her organization, Save Our Summers-Florida, at www.saveoursummers.org.