Sen. Leticia Van de Putte said she was shocked to learn that 6,000 more students were enrolled in the San Antonio Independent School District by mid-September than were enrolled when classes started a few weeks earlier. She has signed on to a bill that would force school districts statewide to start their year during the week of Aug. 21, a date later than most districts use as the start of their calendars. The bill, which passed out of the Senate Education Committee Thursday, is intended to stop schools from discriminating against migrant students who can't follow most school calendars because of their work schedules, said bill sponsor Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville. Catching up five or six weeks is almost impossible.
Critics say such legislation takes local control away from school districts.
School districts decide when school should start. Many districts start in the first few weeks of August, committee members testified. Other families also are affected by early start dates, Lucio said. Farmers are left short-handed when their children have to go back to school when its still summer. Urban areas already plagued by poor air quality could help reduce some emissions from buses if school start after the summer high ozone season, he said.