Interesting way to increase tourism revenue
 

In the news yesterday here in North Carolina, representatives the NC Tourism Industry plan to have legislation introduced in the N.C. General Assembly that would require North Carolina schools to start after Labor Day. In most areas of North Carolina, traditional calendar schools start in mid-August give or take a week.<BR><BR>The tourism industry believes if the children are out of school in August (instead of June) it will incease their earnings by a large enough amount to have more sales tax dollars flowing into the state. Some of the sales tax revenue will go back into the schools. The Tourism board said the August is a more profitably month.<BR><BR>State level school leaders aren't exactly for the measure. They comment about testing schedules.<BR><BR>I don't think it is a good idea to have the tourism department determine the school schedule. Even though I don't have children, I plan to let my reprentatives know my opinion on the issue.

I apologized for the boo-boos. I do read over my remarks before posting, but somehow I never notice the errors until after I have posted.<BR><BR>

I would be 100% in favor of ANY idea that would help raise revenue for education that doesn't involve another tax. I'm sick of tax levies being held like blackmail over the heads of folks in a school district because school boards can't figure out how to properly budget and spend money in the first place. So if alternative ways to help this problem can be used, I am for it. Preparation for testing can be altered to accomodate the change. I think an idea like this is worth trying, and if it is rejected, the voters should remember it the next time a new levy comes around.

On a related note, there was a long thread a couple of months on criuse-critic.com regarding the timimg of Winter Break / Presidents Weekend, and how that would affect the # of Children on certain cruises. What surprised me was the WIDE, and I mean wide variation of days off given to children for that holiday around the country. Some posters stated they are given a week off, while others said there were NO days off. I found that very strange, since Presidents Day is a federal holiday, and public schools are supposed to be closed on all public holidays - at least that is the general assumption. <BR> I know here in the NYC metro area, most public schools acknowledge the large Jewish population here, and schedule school holidays and breaks to coincide to the important Jewish holidays.

when i was a kid, school always started after labor day and lasted will into june. so is your objection with the schedule or with the group making the proposal? i don't see the difference between being in a classroom in june or august.<BR> <BR>because of snow days around the country, President's Day was used as a make up day in lots of school districts.

Lots of variety in the ways to use certain public holidays. Of course in the rural midwest, most schools do not acknowledge Martin Luther King Day at all as a DAY OFF, they do activities with the students regarding Martin L. King but no day off. President's Day typically is a snow makeup day, some years you have it off other times you don't. Never know :-).<BR><BR>The traditional school year is based on the agrarian calendar, basically it was designed to accommodate kids needing to do farming at home in the summer. Even here, that is laughable any more. Although one district takes three days off late in September for a county fair, (albeit the largest county fair in the country, but still just a county fair). Gotta get those 4H pigs to the fair.<BR><BR>Spring break, well around here it is normally just Good Friday and maybe the Monday following Easter. Although, districts that are located close to major university campuses tend to give the same week off as the university does. <BR><BR>

Thanks for all of your comments.<BR><BR>I don't have children so it doesn't matter to me when the children in school, I don't want the tourism industry to control the school calender.<BR>If I had the power to control things, I would eliminate the traffic on my commute, lines at the DMV, faulty scanners at the grocery store, etc. And, of course, only wonderful weather on my days off.<BR>

Huh? People from North Carolina spend more on vacation if they're on vacation in August rather than June? I just really don't get the logic of that one!

In our school district in Ohio, they start classes the Thursday before Labor Day. The kids go 2 days then have a long weekend. They use to start school after Labor Day which makes more sense. Why go 2 days then have a long weekend. And yes, I am all for anything that increases revenue without having to raise my property taxes.

I think August is more profitable because the hotels and other rentals charge more in August than in June. <BR><BR>Maybe if the hotels and other rentals charged more in June this wouldn't be an issue?<BR><BR>

We normally take a week's vacation the last week of August and go up to the Lake. It is really slow that week because of school starting. Maybe they are trying to get more $$$ from that week heading into Labor Day...

I'm a &quot;Tar Heel&quot; and hadn't heard about this, ncgirl, thanks for the alert. There are certainly things about this that don't make any sense, although I'm guessing the tourism people are working with others who don't think they have enough clout.<BR><BR>The ONLY thing that makes any sense to me re:school calendar is paying attention to the _weather_ -- something a lot of school districts seem to be getting away from. I'd be strongly in favor of having kids start school later because it's still just too darn hot here in August. I think it's downright cruel to make kids go to school when the average is still 87 or so degrees and there are lots of 90+ days -- especially if they could just stay in school a little later into June, when it's not nearly as hot yet. <BR><BR>In the nawth (where I grew up), we had two longer holidays in the winter (at New Years and a week in February) because it saved the schools one week's worth of heating bills and allowed students to go skiing or else go somewhere warm if they were wealthy. Had nothing to do with Presidents or anything else.<BR><BR>I was always told the reason students have summers off was 1)so they could &quot;work in the fields&quot; with their parents and 2) the schools weren't air conditioned.<BR><BR>A lot of NC schools still aren't air conditioned, and you'd think the school districts would want to save the money on airconditioning in August, wouldn't you?

When to start the school year was an issue in both Va. and Md. years ago. Businesses and leaders in nearby beach communbities lobbied for a post-Labor Day start ... to give the kids a final weekend of fun in the sun and spending.

Might solve the problem if they went to year around schools. Much more bang for your (taxpayer's) buck.<BR><BR>Curious

Soccr makes a very good point! It's just plain warmer in August than June. The ocean temperature is much more agreeable also. It's definitely the more desirable month for North Carolina as compared to June. I too think it makes more sense to send the kids back to school AFTER Labor Day. And ncgrrl, rather than looking at it as &quot;increasing&quot; revenue, it's more a way of &quot;bringing back&quot; the revenue - it used to be this way and school have gradually slipped forward datewise. <BR><BR>Makes sense to me!

I think this will become a moot point as more and more schools switch to year round - it's just more cost effective that way as Curious pointed out.

Year round school isn't cost effective here in NO...too darn hot in the summer! Many schools don't have AC, and those that do certainly can't afford to run it in the heat of the summer. What I don't understand is why we start earlier in August every year...the hottest month! Start after LD, and go until June! I don't see how that would affect travel at all... no one in their right mind comes here in August unless you have to!<BR><BR>Anne

Well, I don't know that having year round schools is better than the system we have now. For one thing, the kids would be so burned out that they really would not be reaping much educational benefit from staying in school all year round. Having the summer allows them to relax a bit and gives families a time to go on vacation. More than likely, if schools did go year round, there would be a high percentage of absenteeism during the summer months anyhow because this is when most familes go on vacation. In turn, each day the student is absent, the school looses a certain amount of money as a result. The students would then fall behind in their schoolwork. More importantly, for students who need a little extra help, the summer is a good time for them to catch up before going on to the next grade. Students still learn, even when they are on summer vacation. The quality of instruction time is more important than the quantity. The website below has more information on year round school.<BR><BR>http://www.summermatters.com/

A follow up to this. The legislator who introduced the bill withdrew it before the transition date (when House bills go to the Senate and vice-versa). At the time of the removal at least 1/3 of school districts had an exemption to the proposed legislation and 20 more were expected to receive an exemption. I believe he can re-introduce the proposal in 2005.

In San Francisco the school year usually starts right after the labor day weekend, what's the big deal?