ATLANTA – A plan to limit how early Georgia school children can head back to the classroom after summer break has received a cool reception from some school representatives.

The legislative proposal is an attempt to bring back the longer summer vacations of the past and cut back on the number of shorter breaks throughout the year, but school officials say such a change would wreck school calendars and testing schedules.

 “We think it should be a local decision best left up to the local school boards who represent local communities based on the uniqueness of those communities across the state,” Lowndes County Schools Superintendent Wes Taylor said in a statement Friday.

Lowndes County Schools, which is set to begin next school year on Aug. 7, would be among the many districts affected by a move to push back the first day of school. Most of the state’s 180 districts start school the first or second week of August, although some head back as early as late July.

A proposal from a Senate study committee, which includes lawmakers, state officials and representatives from the business and tourism industries, would require districts to start the school year no earlier than seven to 10 days before Labor Day. That’s a full week or more later for many districts.

The school year would also have to end by about June 1 under the proposal. Most systems tend to wrap up the school year now by late May. 

Troubled by the diminishing summer breaks, state lawmakers created the study committee last year to examine “the issue of varied school start dates to determine its economic impact to the travel and hospitality industry.”

Summer is prime family travel season, but it’s also when tourism and hospitality businesses tend to hire high school and college students for seasonal labor.

“The committee finds that an extended summer would directly impact our business economy, but more importantly, allow for the vocational growth of our students and workforce in one of Georgia’s leading industries,” according to the committee report that was released late Friday afternoon.

The group had also cited concerns about cooling costs on hot Georgia summer days, as well as student safety on hot busses, and said more coordination is needed between schools and technical colleges and universities.

Sen. Mike Dugan, the Senate majority leader and a member of the legislative panel, described the plan as “guard rails for local control.”

“It’s within parameters, but it is a local control,” said Dugan, R-Carrollton. “They can set it up however they want within those parameters, but we’re able to address all these other needs as well.”

But after holding a series of meetings this year, it was clear Friday that objections still remain.

“If businesses feel their needs are not being addressed, they should talk with the superintendent and local board,” said Justin Pauly, spokesman for the Georgia School Board Association. “There is no single calendar that will get everybody what they want across this large, diverse state.”

Likewise, the Professional Association of Georgia Educators was among those urging lawmakers to leave school calendar decisions to local communities to hash out.

“Of all the factors considered in the creation of school calendars, student academic success should receive the most emphasis,” said PAGE’s spokeswoman, Ramona Mills.

The change would mean delaying the first day of school by nearly two weeks and ending class a few days later for Colquitt County Schools, said Mary Beth Watson, who chairs the local school board.

That would likely cause the school board to shorten – or even eliminate – the breaks that are built into the schedule, such as a week off for Thanksgiving.

But Watson said her concerns go beyond scheduling. As a board member in a county with a high percentage of students living in poverty, Watson said she worries about how such a policy would impact the district’s most vulnerable students.

“I’m concerned about a longer break for our students who don’t have access to camps, vacations, and even basics like nutritious meals in the absence of summer feeding programs,” Watson said.