New Non-Issue: School Start Dates

It's been years since the Daylight Savings Time issue was settled in Indiana. It's time for another pointless debate to occupy our time.

The Indiana Senate passed a bill requiring that schools start after Labor Day. Reasons cited include a families getting more time in summer together (in a vacation that starts later, so it's actually the same length) and saving on energy costs from not cooling schools in August (but instead increasing the cooling costs in June). There's also the issue of better syncing with college schedules (which vary considerably).

I had a three month vacation one summer, when I went from a school district that started in August, ending in May, to another than started in September, ending in June. I saw both schedules. It really makes no difference. (Although it's good for some students if school starts after Gen Con.)

I will agree, however, that school seems to start earlier and earlier, which suggests that maybe the schedule needs to be condensed, removing some extra vacation days and teacher workshop days to fit 180 days into fewer weeks.