Senate Votes To Repeal Governor's Labor Day Mandate For Schools

ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Maryland Senate took a vote Tuesday morning on a bill to repeal the governor's order that schools begin after Labor Day. Now that the measure passed, it will move on to the Maryland House of Delegates.

The vote was 31-13 on Senate Bill 128, according to the Maryland General Assembly's online tally.

Senate Bill 128 would allow school boards to decide when to start and end their school year, and it would enable them to extend the academic year for up to five school days after June 15 without authorization from the Maryland State Department of Education.

Gov. Larry Hogan signed an executive order in 2016 requiring Maryland public schools to start classes after Labor Day and end their school year by June 15. At the time, he said nearly 75 percent of Marylanders endorsed the plan, which he said had benefits on many fronts, from keeping kids out of school whose buildings were not air-conditioned to bolstering the state's economy.

The measure took effect with the 2017-2018 academic year.

Hogan responded to the vote on Tuesday, standing behind his executive order.

"The Maryland Senate just voted against the will of over 70% of Marylanders who want schools to start classes after Labor Day," Hogan said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. "This common sense policy has had broad, bipartisan support for years, and the legislature voted nearly unanimously to study the issue; and their task force made up of legislators, education experts, teachers, and parents voted in favor of starting school after Labor Day by a 12-3 majority. Get this: some of the senators who voted today to stop the post-Labor Day school start have actually SPONSORED legislation to start schools after Labor Day in the past - as recently as 2016. If that isn’t blatant, partisan hypocrisy, then I don’t know what is."

The bill to repeal Hogan's order and return power over the school calendar to local school boards came after several districts opposed the measure. They cited the challenge of adhering to the Maryland State Department of Education's required 180 days of school instruction while adjusting their calendars to fit the governor's order.

The Montgomery County school board members "strongly oppose any attempt to usurp local decision-making around school calendars," according to a letter it sent to the governor in 2017, stating his plan "ignores critical issues faced by schools and the potential negative instructional impact on students."

Anne Arundel County Public Schools issued a statement in 2016 that it would be "mathematically impossible" to fit the required days of instruction into the calendar.

Complicating matters has been the number of snow days in recent years. Some jurisdictions have had to trim spring break to allow for school to let out by June 15, since they cannot tack on days to the end of the academic year.

Following the senate's passage of the bill, it will go to the house for consideration; the legislation is cross-filed under House Bill 437.

This is Maryland House Bill 437:

The Maryland Senate has passed a bill to overturn Gov. Larry Hogan’s executive order requiring a post-Labor Day school start (and June 15 ending). The bill returns the power of local school boards to set schedules as they see fit. pic.twitter.com/x53oFByeiC
— Danielle E. Gaines (@DanielleEGaines) February 12, 2019

RELATED:

• Governor Orders No School Before Labor Day
• Starting After Labor Day Will Snarl School Calendar: AACPS
• Gov. Hogan Slams 'Whiny School Boards' Over Post-Labor Day Start
• School Start Date: Montgomery County, Gov. Hogan Debate Flares Again

Photo by Emily Leayman/Patch.