Group aim is to ‘save summer’

By Daniella De Luca
5/07/2007
Sun-Gazette

The first Monday in September marks Labor Day, a federal holiday intended to create a “day off” for the working man or woman. If a state house bill is passed on Wednesday, the week prior to it could mean an extended summer vacation for public school students and their families.

State House Bill 258 was filed in February and, if passed, will set the school start date to post-Labor Day for all public schools for the 2008-09 school year. The bill would allow for schools on year-round school systems to begin earlier, according to the Save Our Summers Web site.

Save Our Summers is a nationwide grass roots movement of parents, students, educators and administrators opposed to early school start dates.

A group of about 15 county supporters of the state Save Our Summers campaign will present their proposal Wednesday in Harrisburg. The Lycoming County Visitors Bureau is one of the few tourism bureaus in the state to support the bill, said Jason Fink, executive director of the Lycoming County Visitors Bureau.

“By extending the school day by 20 to 25 minutes, students would be able to start after Labor Day,” Fink said. “The Legislature requires you to go to school in educational hours, not by the number of days.”

With the approval of the Dr. Gerald L. Zahorchak, state secretary of education, schools can use the minimum hourly requirements rather than the 180-day requirement, according to research by TrippUmbach, a Pittsburgh research firm. The firm was hired by the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, a joint committee of the state General Assembly.

State law requires student hours to total 2 1/2 hours each day of the school term for kindergarten, 900 hours for grades one through six and 990 hours for grades seven through 12.

School Code does not have a requirement in terms of the number of hours in each school day according to Director of Public Relations for the Pennsylvania School Board Association Scott Schewell.

About $378 million would be added to Pennsylvania’s economy if all schools in the state began later, according to TrippUmbach.

The estimate is based on the estimated $164 million families spend traveling during the week prior to Labor Day, which was gathered last year via telephone survey by the state Tourism and Lodging Bureau.

By adding the $378 million in net revenue, the report said that more than 2,300 new jobs would be created if people were able to work all through summer.

“Expanding the school day by eight minutes would save $105.4 million annually ... It would be the time equivalent of three instructional days,” the report said.

Fink said some of the benefits would be fewer operational costs on school building utilities, improved tourism opportunities, child care savings and extended summer vacation.

At present, 88 percent of Pennsylvania school districts begin before Labor Day, and 11 states have adopted the Save Our Summers proposal for the 2007-08 school year, Fink said.

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