With the stroke of a pen last week, Gov. Mark Sanford snuffed the remaining life out of the Grand Strand's attempt to return August to its proper tourism focus. He signed a bill that, among other things, stripped the S.C. Board of Education of the power to control the calendars of the state's school districts.

That board, readers will recall, last winter ignited a statewide furor with a rule requiring schools to open for business no earlier than a week before Labor Day. The rule established equal instructional time for S.C. students in advance of early-May high-stakes state testing - and gave S.C. families time for a last summer trip to the mountains or beach.

This rule, now dead, resulted from a statewide lobbying effort orchestrated by Grand Strand business and political leaders. The message: Regrowing August tourism could generate a lot of sales tax money, every penny of which would go to schools; and a Labor Day school start wouldn't harm schools' efforts to teach kids effectively. That's still a good message.

The state's tourism venues win a promise from S.C. Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum that the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests in math, reading, writing and science will be given in mid-May beginning in 2005. That reduces pressure on local school boards to start school so early in August. But until legislators establish a uniform statewide date for school to open, S.C. tourism venues can look forward to continued lackluster August results.