ANNAPOLIS— The quest to pass legislation in Annapolis that would instill a post-Labor Day start for all public schools in Maryland has fallen short once again.
The hearing for House Bill 1349 in the Ways and Means Committee was cancelled on Monday, leaving little hope of rescheduling, after the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee gave the Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 767, an unfavorable review last Friday.
Melanie Pursel, Executive Director of the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce testified at the Senate hearing and said that the “unfavorable” rating was more of a technicality. The senate committee’s vote was split 5 -5, with one member absent. A tie vote leads to an unfavorable review.
“Because of the unfavorable review in the Senate, we decided to withdraw the House bill and cancel the hearing so, yes, the bill is dead for another year,” said Delegate Eric Bromwell (D-8), who sponsored the House bill.
The effort has stalled in committee in past years and has yet to get to a full vote. Still, despite the setback, proponents remain optimistic.
“We got closer this year than we ever have before, but that makes us all the more frustrated and disappointed,” said Pursel. “The PR campaign that we orchestrated this year shows the support is there in the state to start school after Labor Day, but we have to keep working to get it to a full legislative vote.”
Comptroller Peter Franchot who has been the state’s leading cheerleader of this effort for the past few years, was scheduled to testify at the House hearing on Monday, but was unavailable for comment after news of the hearing’s cancellation, and the bill’s essential demise for this session.
Pursel said this year’s efforts were increased through social media pages and vocal support from Governor Larry Hogan back in January.
“Senator Jim Mathias worked so hard on this bill and we had more than 3500 Marylanders reach out to their legislators to support this bill,” she said. “The comptroller’s efforts garnered over 13,000 signatures, including the governor’s, so we are very disappointed to get so close and still fall short.”
While Senator Mathias led the charge on the senate side, the House bill was sponsored by Bromwell who has former ties to the resort region, and was co-sponsored by shore delegates Mary Beth Carozza (R-38C), Carl Anderton (R-38B) and Charles Otto (R-38A).
“I just don’t think the politics were there this year,” said Bromwell. “This is one of those bills that takes time because it is a pretty significant change, but with that said, I think there is a good chance that a version of this bill will pass in the future.”
Even with Governor Hogan’s public support, winning statewide support for the bill has always an uphill battle as the superintendents of all 24 county school districts were in opposition in the past few years, as was the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, many teachers unions, and former state Superintendent Lillian Lowery.
“We have pushed the profile of this bill, and the support is growing,” said Pursel. “I know school systems always say that they want to start school early and have the maximum amount of days to instruct the kids before state testing, but if you look at the years Worcester County has started post-Labor Day, our test scores are still very strong and we have so many blue ribbon schools.”
Proponents of the bill say a later start would give families more time together during the summer vacation, and would provide a further boost to favorite tourism destinations across the state such as Ocean City or Deep Creek Lake. The Bureau of Revenue Estimates project that a post-Labor Day start would boost economic activity by $74.3 million and would pump $7.7 million in revenue to state and local economies.
Opponents have long argued that the state’s school systems need those extra days of instruction to get ready for state testing. As of now, school systems in Maryland have the ability to set their own school calendars. Currently, Worcester is the only county in the state with a post Labor Day start. However, as recently as 2000, several counties across the state, including Worcester, rang the year’s first school bell after Labor Day.
Pursel believes that while the effort fell short by the smallest of margins, supporters will not give up the quest.
“We are not done fighting for this yet,” said Pursel.
Delegate Carozza praised the bi-partisan support of the bill and the coalition of industry groups such as the Maryland Farm Bureau, the Maryland Tourism Council, the OCHMRA, the Chamber, and the Maryland Hotel and Lodging Association.
“This is good for families, good for the agricultural community and tourism industry and good for Maryland’s overall economy,” said Carozza.
Carozza also hinted that a strategy for the future could involve growing the number of school districts that begin classes after Labor Day since Worcester County is leading the way in that respect.