More than likely, your neighborhood school is starting in the next few days. And if that seems a little earlier than in years past, it probably is.

Districts are increasingly using a four-year-old loophole created by the Texas Legislature to start their school years earlier and earlier. If a district has declared itself a “district of innovation,” it can exempt itself from a wide range of rules in the state's education code, including Texas' uniform start date.

Otherwise, state law says public schools can't start before the fourth Monday in August. This year, that's Aug. 26.

At the most recent count, nearly 85 percent of Texas school districts -- including Dallas ISD -- have used their district of innovation status to get a jump start on learning. DISD, for example, will start Monday, Aug. 19.

Here's more on the subject, from a story originally published on Aug. 7, 2017:

COMMERCE — The school bells are already ringing here. And yes, it's barely August.

Commerce ISD started classes Monday. Eighth-grader Brody Baumann wasn’t feeling it.

“Not good,” he interjected when his mom, Stacey, was asked about such an early start.

State law says public schools can't start before the fourth Monday of this month — and that's Aug. 28. But more than half of the state's students will be starting earlier, according to the Texas Education Agency, because of one very large loophole.

In 2015, the Texas Legislature gave school districts the ability to sidestep a wide range of rules in the Texas Education Code — including start dates — by designating themselves a “District of Innovation.”

Many schools start next Monday. Commerce, however, has taken it to the extreme. And for Brody, at least this year, it’s harsh.

No summer trip to Mexico. No visit to his relatives in Des Moines, Iowa. No Iowa State Fair, which starts Thursday.

“It ruined my summer,” he said.

Assistant principal Felisha Jones (left) greeted senior Leslie Griffin at Commerce High on Monday. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Late-summer start

The early schools concept has picked up steam.

An analysis by The Dallas Morning News found 41 of the 50 largest districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have passed District of Innovation plans, including Dallas, Arlington, Garland, Plano, Lewisville and Frisco.

By declaring itself a District of Innovation, a district gains some autonomy from state rules and regulations. The Legislature allows districts to classify themselves this way so that, in part, they can be more competitive with charter schools. Those who carry the label can sidestep state laws on a wide range of topics, from purchasing contracts to class sizes.

And, of course, schedules. Every District of Innovation in Texas asked for flexibility with its calendar.

Not all of them are using that flexibility for the upcoming school year. Dallas ISD, for example, will start with the rest of the state, Aug. 28. But those that did are bumping up the first day of school by a week or two.

School officials usually say the earlier start dates help them make the two academic semesters of an even length, with the Christmas holidays falling in the middle. They also say the earlier start gives them more time to prepare for state assessment tests.

Principal Steve Drummond fist-bumps a student as they ushered in the start of a new school year. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

Start dates have been a battleground for parents, schools and businesses for three decades.

The state’s travel industry says millions of dollars are on the line when districts tinker with when the first day of school falls. For years, Big Travel successfully lobbied the Legislature for a uniform start date as close to Labor Day as possible.

The current “fourth Monday” law passed in a 2006 special session, doing away with a waiver process that had allowed for earlier starts.

David Teel, the president and CEO of the Texas Travel Industry Association, said that it was a compromise that his members learned to live with. The preference of some in the tourism industry, Teel said, was to start after Labor Day.

“They want to maintain as much of that traditional summer vacation time — June, July and August — as possible to support their business operations,” Teel said. “And we’ve found that August is a much more profitable month than June or July.”

Districts, on the other hand, want to be able to set their own calendars. They’ve been tasked by the TEA to squeeze in as many instruction days (actually, the rule is now based in minutes) into a finite space. And a uniform start date doesn’t take into account the uniqueness of each community.

Ennis ISD spelled out this desire for local control in its District of Innovation plan: “Regardless of whether any adjustments or changes are made to the current start date law, Ennis ISD believes this issue to be a local decision as opposed to a state mandate.”

Freshman Wade Nicholson high-fives school and city administrators while walking in on the first day of school at Commerce High School. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

These desires were a big reason why the District of Innovation concept picked up supporters along the way, said Monty Exter, a lobbyist for the Association of Professional Educators.

“I think that in many ways, the school start date got DOI’s PR lead, because it is one of those things that a lot of districts had coming up that they wanted to do something about,” Exter said.

The tourism industry, though, isn’t happy with the new loophole.

Teel said that he’s heard “rumblings” from some members — businesses such as resorts and water parks — that they are seeing double-digit declines in attendance at the beginning of August.

“When you look at the 60-something things schools can change [as a District Of Innovation], I’m not sure we see an exception that has as much broad, widespread disruptive impacts than this one has,” Teel said. “Not just the loss of revenue, either. From vacations, to inconsistencies in starting times between districts right next to each other, the way UIL events are affected, college calendars. ... We appreciate and value local control, but it needs to be reasonable.”

During the recent session, Teel’s group and others lobbied the Legislature to pull the start date provision out of exceptions allowed by District of Innovation plans. They were unsuccessful.

Reasons galore

Administrators who spoke with The News gave a variety of benefits for an earlier start date.

For the past several years, in order to balance its calendar, Keller ISD finished the first semester in mid-January. By bumping up its start to Aug. 15 this year, the semester will end before Christmas break.

Not only is this a better instructional model, said Dustin Blank, Keller’s assistant superintendent for secondary education, it allows high school students who have finished their requirements to graduate midyear and start their college path in January.

In order to prevent charter schools from outflanking the Dallas Independent School District for students at the start of the year, DISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa lobbied for the innovation plan.

But that wasn’t DISD’s only reason. An earlier start would allow the district to balance its instructional days between semesters, making the fall semester a little longer and a little easier to plan lessons for, said Stephanie Elizalde, DISD’s chief of school leadership.

It would also result in an earlier finish, allowing high school students in its dual-credit programs a chance to pick up more college hours over the summer.

Dallas didn’t pass its innovation plan until its 2017-18 calendar was already set; Elizalde said she expects DISD’s 2018-19 school year to start a few weeks earlier.

Students headed to class in Commerce on Monday. (Rose Baca / Staff Photographer)

‘So much more time’

For Commerce, an early start allows the district to give a weeklong break at the end of each nine-week period, essentially adding an October break, extending winter holidays and finishing school by May 18.

The change also better allows students at the local college, Texas A&M-Commerce, to volunteer and mentor at Commerce’s campuses, Superintendent Charlie Alderman said.

Having his school calendar closely jibe with A&M-Commerce’s was important, too, he said.

“They’re the largest employer in Hunt County, so they have a lot of impact on our school district,” Alderman said.

Brody’s math teacher, Patricia Nelle, said she was most excited about the impact an early start would have on preparation for the state’s STAAR tests. For some of her students, assessments come in late March or early April. The rest will get tested in mid-May, right before the end of school.

“Trying to get all the instruction in by March, it was insane — the amount you had to cover in the first nine weeks was crazy,” Nelle said. “Now, there’s so much more time. It’s not a ton — but it’s just enough.”

Before making the change, Alderman took a poll of parents, asking them to choose among the early start, the traditional start, or something in the middle. While a majority of parents in Commerce voted in favor of the earliest date, Brody’s mom, Stacey, didn’t. She wanted to keep her summer intact, at least for this year.

Even so, she sees the potential benefits. And so does Brody.

“Next year, it’ll be better,” he said.

Let’s hope so, for Brody’s sake.

District of Innovation plans expire after five years — the year he’s scheduled to graduate.