Task Force May Recommend Post-Labor Day School Start Date

As reported in the Baltimore Sun, a task force assigned to study a post-Labor Day start date for Maryland schools will recommend to Governor Martin O’Malley that the summer break be extended, a measure that has been embraced by one Eastern Shore school district but opposed by most of the state’s superintendents.  As described,

State officials said that a task force, convened by the Maryland General Assembly last year to study the issue, voted 11-4 this week to recommend that schools open after Labor Day, a move that has been championed by Comptroller Peter Franchot for its economic benefits to local businesses and the state’s tourism industry.
Some local superintendents and the State Superintendent have stated that the decision on start-times should be local, according the Sun:

. . . delaying the start of the school year has been opposed by area superintendents, such as in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. And state Superintendent Lillian M. Lowery has said she believes that local jurisdictions should be able to determine whether their school years start before or after Labor Day.

The Task Force to Study a Post-Labor Day Start Date for Maryland Public Schools will make its final report before June 30, 2014.  The Executive order creating the Task Force established members from the General Assembly, and the education and business communities.

For more information on the recent task force meeting, see the full story from the Sun.