JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Some Mississippi legislators are trying to undo a law that requires the school year to start later in August.
The Senate voted 31-15 Wednesday to do that, but the House and the governor would have to agree before anything could change. Prospects in the House are uncertain.
The proposal came from Republican Sen. Videt Carmichael of Meridian, who said local districts should set the school calendar.
Under a law that takes effect for the first time in the 2014-15 school year, classes can begin no earlier than the third Monday in August. Most Mississippi districts have been starting earlier.
Gulf Coast tourism officials persuaded lawmakers to set the later start date, saying it would boost the economy by giving families more vacation time. The law was enacted in 2012, but its start was delayed until this coming August.
Some school officials have said a later start to the academic year creates problems by pushing first-semester exams into January, after the Christmas break.
Carmichael’s proposal was an amendment to Senate Bill 2571.
Senate Education Committee Chairman Gray Tollison, R-Oxford, pointed out during debate Wednesday that Mississippi is consistently at or near the bottom of national academic rankings. He said most of the top states start their school years in late August or early September.
Tollison also said many Mississippi children ride to school on buses without air conditioning.
“If you don’t think it gets hot in August, you don’t live in Mississippi,” Tollison said.
Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, said she supports the later start to the school year because she’s concerned about schools pushing extracurricular activities, such as band camp and football practice, earlier into the summer, during the hottest weeks of the year. She said a later start to the school year would help alleviate some of those problems.
