Indiana Legislature to Debate Later Start to School Year

Remember when school started after Labor Day? Organizers of the Indiana State Fair felt compelled to tack on five days to the front end of the fair, which opened August 7th. That conflicted with the schedules of some County fairs. The new chairman of the Indiana Senate Education Committee, Senator Dennis Kruse (R-Auburn) says he‘ll resurrect a proposal he has brought to the legislature before to delay the start of school until early September. Kruse cites several arguments including the impact on them parks and other segments of the tourism industry who rely heavily on summer traffic. Kruse says the operators of the Holiday World theme park in southern Indiana told him "they think the last two weeks of august would be the best two weeks of their season" with school starting later. Also, the ISTEP test has been moved from the Fall to the Spring. But school administrators point to first Semester final exams. 11 states have laws delaying the start of school until late August or early September, including Indiana‘s neighbor Michigan which puts the first day of school after Labor Day.