N.C. SCHOOL START

Tourism season lengthens
Businesses see benefit of late date

By Steve Jones
The Sun News

Jun. 07, 2005

SHALLOTTE, N.C. - Kathryn Konersman figures she needs $700 to get through her high school graduation next school year, and the 10 weeks she's working at a water park on Ocean Isle Beach this summer will leave her with at least that, she says.

Ray Little, her employer at Ocean Isle Beach River Country Miniature Golf and Water Slide, is glad the state's going to let her stay longer, too. Having reliable student help through the season means he can keep the business open longer hours at the end of the summer, which had seen declining numbers of tourists as school systems shortened summer vacations to prepare for mandatory testing.

The N.C. General Assembly passed legislation last year mandating that most of the state's public schools don't begin their fall term until at least Aug. 25 and end by June 10. Twenty-five of 115 systems are exempt in case they need to make up for snow days.

It's a law Grand Strand legislators have tried unsuccessfully to pass since 2002 in an effort to keep Carolinas' residents - who account for 36 percent of the tourism base - coming to the coast through August, and to have enough student employees to serve those tourists.

North Carolina's school start change is expected to have a positive economic impact on Horry County, said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

"Our largest base of tourists renting come from North Carolina," he said.

Pat Sandifer, owner of Holden Beach Properties in Brunswick County, said the difference is evident to her in nearly full bookings through August for the 150 cottages she handles. Before the new law, most late-season renters were from out of state and all the cottages were not full.

"The 13th and 20th are almost totally booked," she said. And at least half of those renting in the final two weeks are North Carolinians, she said.

A strong August extends the busy season through the Labor Day holiday, said Sheryl Hardee, owner of Beck's and Ella's restaurants in Calabash.

"When school starts back," she said, "business drops off."

Mike Frank, owner of Capt. John's Seafood House, also in Calabash, said recent years have seen a 50 percent drop in business with the start of school. Three years ago, he said, students trudged back to class Aug. 3.

It took North Carolinians 10 years to persuade legislators to mandate later start dates for schools. Politicians had been focused, like educators, on end-of-course and end-of-grade tests that have become the centerpiece of K-12 education.

The change in North Carolina came when parent groups joined the chorus of tourism leaders and coastal business owners.

The same alignment, Dean said, is emerging in South Carolina. While North Carolina is a big market for the Grand Strand, he said, studies show that a mandated late-August start in S.C. schools could add $90 million to area businesses.

A secondary benefit, he said, would be to allow the chamber and others to redirect marketing dollars that now go to enticing tourists from states that already have late school start dates to fill rooms in August.

That money could be used to lure tourists from new markets.

School authorities in other S.C. districts have said they need to start the school year earlier in August to have enough time to prepare students for accountability tests.

S.C. Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, co-sponsored a measure requiring schools to start no earlier than Aug. 25 and an advisory referendum on the issue. At the end of the session last week, Rankin said although both bills stalled, he was hearing growing support.

Dean said he had thought that start-date legislation had a good chance of passage, since similar efforts were going on not only in North Carolina, but Alabama and Texas as well.

Now Dean hopes next year could be the time, with more parents pushing for longer summer vacations and lawmakers seeking re-election.

"I think North Carolina has set a good example," Dean said, "and I hope South Carolina will follow suit next year."