TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Summer was over for thousands of kids across the state starting Wednesday. Starting this year, Labor Day was no longer the dictator as to when school would go back in session.
But an earlier start means an earlier end. All school districts are scheduled to wrap up classes by the end of the first week of June, with many ending in late May.
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Students in Hillsborough County said goodbye to summer break and headed off to school Wednesday.
Kids in St. John’s County could probably relate. They grabbed their book bags and pencils and headed off to class Wednesday, too.
This was the first year that school start dates weren’t tethered to the Labor Day holiday. A change in state law meant that Wednesday was the first day districts could start the year. They previously had to wait until two weeks before Labor Day.
Not every kid was back in school, though. Forty districts opted for a start day of Aug. 10, with a majority of others waiting until Monday.
Ruth Melton, with the Florida School Boards Association, said August tourism was a concern when they pitched an earlier school start date. But they wanted students to be able to finish the first semester before winter break.
“With a later school start date, that became impossible, so over the course of several years, most of the education-related community pushed hard to try and give us a little flexibility so that school could start late enough in the summer so students could complete their school year, but early enough that students could have a nice summer break before coming back to begin the grind,” Melton said.
Had the old law still been in place, schools wouldn’t have been able to start until Aug. 22 this year, because Labor Day falls on Sept. 5.
