The summer slide has also coincided with a Michigan slide, with students across the state falling in national education rankings. Michigan’s decline has hit students at all income levels, compared with their demographic peers across the country.

The 2016 Michigan State of Education Report, put out by the Royal Oak-based Education Trust-Midwest, a nonprofit research and policy group, found that “Michigan’s K-12 system is among the weakest in the country,” thanks to stalled reading rates among Michigan students and faster educational increases in other states.

Presently, schools that want to begin school before Labor Day can apply for a waiver from the Michigan Department of Education. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in schools and intermediate school districts requesting waivers.

Waiver requests are submitted to the Michigan Department of Education, which determines whether they should be granted. In recent years, local districts, charter schools and intermediate school districts are more frequently seeking waivers. Knollenberg said 60 percent of waiver applications were accepted last school year.

Even so, tourism representatives contend that giving schools full discretion to begin in August would harm an industry critical to Michigan’s economy.

Ken Hayward, executive vice president and managing director of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, testified against the bill in front of the Senate Education Committee in December.

“In the nine years since [the] post-Labor Day schools [law] was passed, our hotel occupancy in August has been 3.6 percent higher than the five Augusts leading up to its passage,” Hayward testified.

“You might think a 3.6 percent difference in occupancy is not that big of a deal, but it translates into enough room nights to fill Grand Hotel an additional night during the month of August. Those approximately 400 room nights at peak season rate are the difference between profit and loss in some seasons.”

Richeson, of the tourism trade group, points to a study commissioned by the MLTA in 2016 that found the Post Labor Day Start Law increased state tourism by $20 million in 2007, the year after it was enacted, based on an analysis of hotel reservation data.

Educators counter that the costs to students are no less critical.

Material that is forgotten over the summer must be taught the next fall, which means schools have to dedicate a month or more re-teaching material from the previous year. Educators say that teachers could spend their classroom time and budgets more efficiently if summers were shorter.

McDavid, the Berkley superintendent, acknowledged that revisiting subjects that were previously taught is part of the learning process. But he said Michigan’s summer break “makes it incredibly difficult to know how much of the reteaching is the natural product of learning, and how much of it it is because they're coming back (so late) from a break.”

Other options?

One alternative that’s been mentioned: Why not have the school year extend until the end of June? That would shorten summer break while making it easier for families to travel during peak tourism season in late summer.

According to Richeson, that would be fine with the tourism industry. June weather is more unpredictable, which dampens travel. “We would rather see school extend further into June and start after Labor Day...That wouldn’t shortchange student learning opportunity...It would, at the same time, have a more favorable support effect on tourism.”

But Knollenberg said that argument ignores another phenomenon that might be called the June swoon, as kids become mentally “checked out” after Memorial Day. Students, he said, will be more prepared to learn in August.

Machesky, of Troy, is also leery of extending school through June. Many of the students in his district “avail themselves of summer learning opportunities.” Camps in Michigan and around the country also begin in June, so ending school later would restrict his students’ ability to participate.

McDavid, of Berkley, added that many high school students and their families visit colleges in the early weeks of summer.

William DiSessa, the Michigan Department of Education’s Office of Public and Governmental Affairs, said MDE supports Knollenberg’s bill, with a key condition. MDE wants the measure amended to allow some programs, including special education, to operate for a full school week in August, and not just three days. The department did not respond to a request for a full interview.

It’s unclear when the Michigan Senate will vote on the bill, which passed the Senate Education Committee by a 4-1 vote in March. Even if it passes this summer, some districts may not be able to take advantage of it in the upcoming year. McDavid noted that in Berkley, the district’s contract with the teachers’ union is already set for the 2017-2018 school calendar. But he said the passage of the Knollenberg law would allow the district to begin conversations about what kind of schedule makes sense in future years.

The tourism industry, meanwhile, said it will continue its opposition, as Knollenberg said he’s committed to pushing his bill. Despite the protests, he said, “I don’t think tourism experts are education experts.”