Jessie Balmert, and Chrissie Thompson

Cincinnati

COLUMBUS - Not ready to head back to school? A Republican lawmaker is trying to push back the beginning of classes in Ohio to after Labor Day.

State Sen. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville, worked as an elementary school teacher for 37 years, so she remembers how hot a classroom without air conditioning can get in mid-August, when many Ohio schools start. That's one complaint she has heard from teachers in her northern Ohio district.

Parents have told Manning they are concerned about fitting in family vacations after busy summer sports seasons. Other families want to participate in the county fair at the end of August and say school gets in the way.

So on Tuesday, Manning proposed starting Ohio's school year after Labor Day unless local school board officials opt to start sooner. The bill wouldn't cut down on required classroom time, so school would let out later in the spring.

Under current law, school officials can start classes whenever they want so long as they complete the required teaching time: 910 hours in the classroom for full-day kindergarten through sixth grade and 1,001 for seventh grade through high school. Start dates have inched earlier and earlier to accommodate athletic schedules, preparation for state tests and earlier summer breaks.

But Amy Boyne, a mom of two elementary school students in Delhi Township, would prefer a summer break that lines up better with traditional summer months. This year, Oak Hills Schools let out a week before local pools opened. Even though class started Monday, most classrooms in her children's school, John Foster Dulles Elementary, lack air conditioning. Her children missed out on a few camps that took place in mid- or late-August, she said.

Boyne now is a stay-at-home mom, but she worked while her 21-year-old daughter was in school. It would have been easier to find a babysitter for traditional summer months than it is with the current May-to-August break, she said, and easier to find a summer nanny than to hire a babysitter for the intermittent two-week breaks that sometimes characterize year-round schedules.

But most school officials cited other reasons for choosing their start date: school testing. The state plans to administer the Ohio Graduation Test March 13-16, for example. Manning's bill wouldn't move the time for that testing window.

"Starting after Labor Day and keeping the assessment windows in place would just be another example of legislative malpractice where education is concerned," said Greg Power, superintendent of Little Miami Schools in Maineville. "We’ve framed our calendar on what makes sense for student learning."

Starting school Aug. 10 allows the school to end its semester before the break for winter holidays, Power said, and it gives students enough time to prepare for state tests. Of the flexibility in Manning's bill for a school to opt to start in August, Power said: “Why do they need the law if the board can vote to not follow the law? That’s just insane."

Janet Walsh, a spokeswoman for Cincinnati Public Schools, said she understands Boyne's and Manning's desire for traditional summers. Still, the school started class Wednesday, in air-conditioned classrooms. “The academic needs of the students really need to come first,” Walsh said.

Some schools start early in part to accommodate their county fairs. Fairfield Union, a district in Fairfield County, started school Aug. 11, but will take five days off for the county fair in October. Starting last week also allows the school to end the nine-week grading period before the break for winter holidays and give students time to prepare for state tests, said Superintendent Chad Belville.

Even without the proposal, some schools already choose to start after Labor Day. Geneva Area City Schools will start later this year to accommodate students working summer jobs at Geneva-on-the-Lake.

Manning said most schools won't push back their start dates without statewide encouragement.

"It’s very difficult unless everyone else is starting a little later," Manning said. The bill would require schools to hold a community hearing before passing a resolution to start school before Labor Day.

Michigan has a law similar to Manning's bill. State officials say the state's tourism industry benefits from allowing people to vacation at Michigan's lakes throughout August. Schools must get a waiver from the state to start earlier. Most schools follow the law and start after Labor Day, letting school out for the summer in early- to mid-June.

The Ohio School Board Association opposes Manning's proposal, saying local schools should have the authority to start when it makes sense for their community – without encouragement one way or another. For example, Columbus-area schools might try to line up their spring break with Ohio State University's break because parents work there, said Damon Asbury, director of legislative services and a former superintendent.

Lawmakers have debated the timing for the start of school before. A 2012 proposal from Rep. Bill Hayes, R-Licking County, to start school after Labor Day and end before Memorial Day passed the House but died in the Senate.

Reporter Trista Thurston of the Lancaster Eagle Gazette contributed.