Next year’s lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer could last a little longer for students if three South Carolina senators have their way.

Sens. Luke Rankin, Scott Richardson and Dick Elliott — whose districts include coastal Horry and Beaufort counties — prefiled bills in December to push back elementary and secondary school year start dates to Aug. 25 or later for the entire state.

Rankin’s bill also calls for the year to end no later than seven days after the last Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test in May.

South Carolinians who favor the bills say families are missing out on making summer holiday memories and students lose the opportunity to take summer jobs and earn money for college. In addition, businesspeople say, when schools start early, the state — and especially the coast — loses tourist dollars.

“It adds up to real big money,” said Elliott, a North Myrtle Beach-area real estate developer specializing in vacation rentals.

But school administrators and others say the state will lose more than money if schools start later in the fall. Among other things, students and teachers will come up short on Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test instruction time, and time for teachers to prepare lessons and meet with parents, they say.

Many educators say local school districts should be allowed to set their calendars based on their own needs.

A previous late-school start bill pushed in 2002 by Horry County legislators and backed by the tourism industry failed. To compromise then, state Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum pushed the PACT tests back by a week, to the second week in May as of this year. Still, most districts decided not to start school later.

The new filings come in the wake of similar North Carolina legislation that passed last year and will take effect in 2005. Some North Carolinians complain that legislators gave little consideration to the impact on public schools and the communities they serve. They say tourism interests poured money into the campaign, successfully recruiting teachers and parents.

Dawne Wise, whose son Robinson is an eighth-grader in Richland 2, said that when she was growing up, school started two days before Labor Day and ended the first week of June.

“I really wish they’d go back to that,” she said. “Fall is when you go back to school. Aug. 8 is not fall.”

Fourteen-year-old Robinson said he hates having to go back in early August when it is still hot. He would prefer to vacation from June to September rather than May to August, he said.

Although many parents want schools to start later, they agree that a single start date across the entire state might not be practical, and the decision is better left to local school districts.

Whereas, for example, a late start would suit schools in Horry County where tourism is the main economic activity, Richland District 2 prefers an early start coupled with longer breaks at Christmas, Thanksgiving and in the spring. That arrangement better accommodates the district’s families, many of whom are affiliated with the Fort Jackson military base, said superintendent Stephen Hefner. Students often need to visit relatives overseas during the fall and winter breaks.

“I think it’s a travesty that the tourism industry is guiding what our schools do,” said Kathy O’Quinn, Richland 2 teacher of the year. “It’s absurd.”

O’Quinn is a member of the district’s faculty advisory committee, a group of teachers who put together the Richland 2 calendar. The district is one of few in which teachers still have this opportunity.

“We want the calendar that helps our teachers do their best work and helps our students do their best work,” said Hefner, a member of South Carolina Association of School Administrators.

Richland 2 schools will start on Aug. 8 this year — with reason.

When the 1984 Education Improvement Act passed, start dates moved up from September to late August. They moved up even more when the state began requiring students to complete 24 academic units before graduating from high school.PACT TEST A FACTOR

The Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test also drives school start dates. Students must have at least 180 days of instruction before the spring test, and complete testing early enough that the state can send out reports by August.

“We need every day we can get to prepare for the test,” said O’Quinn, who teaches music at Round Top Elementary.

Businesspeople and legislators say public education would get a boost from the increased sales tax revenues that a later statewide school start would bring in. And the good part is that other state programs are not being cut to provide those extra funds, Elliott said.

“It’s like mama sending you a check from home,” he said. “It’s like a windfall.”

At least two studies were commissioned to look at later school start dates:

• The state Department of Education’s Uniform School Start Date Task Force was formed in 2002.

• A summer mail-in survey, paid for by the S.C. Travel and Tourism Coalition and carried out by Coastal Carolina University in 2004.

Both found the uniform date could generate more vacationers and tax revenue. However, there were no guarantees.

Still, Dean said, the state would benefit from a later start “window” that creates a bigger chunk of time for people to travel, and at the same time gives schools limited flexibility.

That wiggle room is important for local school districts, said Chuck Saylors, president of the South Carolina Parent Teachers Association.

“A one size fits all answer may not be completely appropriate.”

Reach Reid at (803) 771-8378 or czreid@thestate.com.