Ohio lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would change the schedule of Ohio public schools, starting the academic year after Labor Day.
Senate Bill 34 was introduced by state senator Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville), and the Dayton Daily News reports the Ohio House Education Committee recently held a second hearing on the proposal earlier this week.
Manning first introduced the bill in 2016, and Representative Steven Arndt of the 89th House District additionally proposed beginning school after Labor Day in House Bill 549 in March.
According to both of the bills, schools opening before Labor Day would need to hold a public hearing before voting on the matter.
Supporters of the bill claim schools could take fewer days off within the year, or add minutes to the school day, so that a post-Labor Day start could still line up with a roughly Memorial Day finish, citing tourism, travel and summer employment as benefits of the later school year.
Critics of the bill, like democratic state rep. Dan Ramos says, the schedule change would push high schools out of alignment with Ohio universities, which could hurt students taking college credit courses as well as educators taking courses needed for continued certification.
Democrat Catherine Ingram suggested students are at a higher risk to forget academic material over a longer summer break, and Springfield Republican Kyle Koehler said unless all surrounding states aligned to the same schedule, the move might not make much difference in bringing out-of-state tourists to Ohio.
A recent Ohio Travel Association poll showed, according to the Dayton Daily News, that 66 percent of Ohioans were in favor of the bill passing.
Virginia, Indiana, and Michigan are all also looking at similar legislation within their respective states.
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2018.
Whats a joke. Ohio, as usual, going in the wrong direction. The output of Ohio schools is pathetic. While the rest of the country talks about extending the school year, we cut ours. About right for the most dying state in the union. Watch out Mississippi, here we come!
Well, it is easier to elect Trump type people, as he loves the uneducated.
Go Ohio!
SSDD: This time it’s a double helping of slop from the same gutless troll who not only posts anonymously, but feels the need to be so clever that he changes his “handle” with every new post. Most other sites do not allow anonymous posting anymore, and make registration mandatory. But not SCENE, and what you see is what you get–fewer and fewer people commenting here because they can’t “handle” the stink! Thanks for all the fish, pal!
We tried this in our district when a new principal was hired. We hated it all of my children are involved in sports so we couldnt take vacation anyway, they had practice!
We also had two football games before school started! My kids would rather get out at the end of May not end of June
I will not vote for this bill