Thursday, December 3, 2009

Early school-year start back in play

The Detroit Free Press reports today that because of Michigan's desire for the federal "Race to the Top" education funds, the law mandating schools must start after Labor Day is back up for debate.

I believe we need to take the school starting date before the United Nations and propose that no school in the world should be allowed to start before Labor Day. Heck, we are always comparing the performance of America's schools to schools in other countries so how fair is it that politicians in other countries stay out of the way and let their educators determine when the first day of school is?

(I'm joking, but I'm really trying to make a point too.)

I found one quote from the article exceptionally unbelievable... "Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, the Michigan House's top-ranking Republican, said the Melton measure would undermine one of the Legislature's most pro-business achievements of the decade."

If a law mandating an after Labor Day school start date is one of the Legislature's most pro-business achievements of the decade then Heaven help us.

Personally I liked starting school after Labor Day, however it's time for the state to get out of the way and return control of schools to the local school boards.

1 comments:

Michael said...

When is the school year over for you? If it's any later than what it was last year for non-seniors, then it doesn't seemed worth starting after Labor Day.