Students all over Michigan return to the classroom today, while in neighboring states they’ve been back in school for a week or two. We can thank the Michigan legislature that passed a law in 2005 to prevent schools from opening before Labor Day.
According to a website called State of Opportunity (http://stateofopportunity.michiganradio.org/post/who-gets-decide-when-school-year-starts-not-schools), “the main rationale behind the law was to allow families one last vacation weekend. The main promoters of the law came from the state’s tourism industry.” Presumably it needed teen workers for the final holiday of the summer, workers who might otherwise have already returned to the classroom.
There are those who think this is not the best way to set education policy. One concern is that lower income students or lower achieving students lose ground over the summer. Another concern is that some districts start early in August to have more days off during the school year.
When I was in school in a variety of different states, the contemporary wisdom was to go with the day after Labor Day. Personally I don’t have a problem with this, except that in Michigan not only is it mandatory but also that it was pushed through by the tourism industry. I wouldn’t say this is putting our children first.
I agree with MI… school should start AFTER Labor Day. Here in Ulster Co, NY, kids went back on Thur, then Fri and then a 3 day weekend. Makes so sense to me! Labor Day to Memorial Day, that’s the school year. Memorial Day to Labor Day is Summer!!!!