Sen. Gerald Hocker really wants schools to start after Labor Day. I mean he really really wants this. First was the Legislative Task Force to Study Post Labor Day School Starts back in 2014. Then Hocker introduced legislation in 2015 to require all schools to start after Labor Day. It passed the Senate but went nowhere in the House. So, we fast forward to 2017 and guess what, Hocker introduces new legislation, S.B. 18, to require all schools to start after Labor Day.
The basic argument for doing wanting to do this is that the Delaware economy may get an economic boost by starting school after Labor Day. When I read legislation like this one it sends up several red flags. For instance, why is a Republican introducing legislation to control local school districts? Doesn’t this run against basic Republicans beliefs?
After some research, I found the task force’s final report over at a blog called Farmer Dan’s Daughter. We are now hosting the pdf as well. The blogger’s basic reason for supporting a late start for schools is:
All of our seasonal help typically returns to school about two weeks before the Labor Day holiday. This includes adults and teenagers. Labor Day is our biggest holiday and August beach traffic has increased the past couple years. Retaining even just a few seasonal employees for an additional week or two would help us tremendously as our family has pick to up the slack over the remaining months of September and October.
If you read through the task force’s final report, they really focused on tourism. The expert testimony that showed the benefits that Maryland and Virginia received from a late start were from tourism industry officials. Though they might have some numbers at their disposal, it is kind of like asking the fox how to defend the hen house.
The big argument seems to be that the Delaware beaches are losing workers before the Labor Day weekend. But since the Cape Henlopen and Indian School Districts already start after Labor Day, high school workers are probably not the issue which is stated in the final report — it’s the disappearance of college student workers that is the real problem. (This is stated in the final report.)
If the argument is that Delawareans aren’t traveling to the Delaware beaches during the Labor Day weekend, this is poppycock as Delawareans only make up 12% of Delaware’s tourists (pdf). New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York individually create more tourism in Delaware than First Staters and collectively they are at 62.3% of all tourists. Collectively Virginia, North Carolina, and Massachusetts have more tourists in Delaware than Delaware.
Though the task force recommended starting Delaware schools after Labor Day, it was only by a majority of one in the final vote. Other big problems with this mandate are that educators are against it and parents “will likely be opposed to a change” — this is all spelled out in the final report as well.
This bill should not be passed.
