Bill would leave school start date up to local boards

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If it passes the Senate, the bill would reverse a decision by the state Board of Education in December that beginning in 2004 all schools would have to start classes within a 10-day period from the last Monday in August to the Wednesday after Labor Day.

The debate about school start dates was sparked last spring when Coastal legislators proposed allowing Horry County schools to give the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test later than the rest of the state.

Coastal legislators said the early start of classes cuts into the summer tourist season, costing local businesses and the state economy millions of dollars.

But other districts, including many in the Upstate, say an earlier start date allows them to maximize instructional time before the PACT and to complete semester exams before Christmas break.

Dr. Lloyd Hunter, superintendent of the McCormick County School District, said: "We supported the uniform start date as long as it had some flexibility in it. I didn't think there was enough flexibility in what the state Board of Education had proposed."

McCormick will start Aug. 7 next year.

Greenville County decided to push its first day of school two weeks later to Aug. 25. Oby Lyles, the district's spokesman and chairman of the district's school calendar committee, said the move was in response to parental concerns.

The House bill would allow districts to decide their own starting dates, ending dates, holidays, in-service days and professional development days.

The bill also requires all districts to designate make-up days within their calendar for days missed because of inclement weather or other disruptions. If a school exceeds its make-up days, it can lengthen the school day by no less than an hour a day until the time is made up. A school cannot make up days on Saturdays.

The bill is expected to get a perfunctory third reading in the House today. State Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said he expects the bill to pass in the Senate, but not without a fight.