BERLIN — In response to an executive order mandating a post-Labor Day start to the public school year in Maryland, state lawmakers this week passed legislation that will give school systems more flexibility in their end-of-year schedules.
In August 2016, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced from the Ocean City Boardwalk an executive order requiring all public school systems in the state to start classes after Labor Day beginning with the 2017-2018 school year. The executive order required public schools in Maryland to start after Labor Day and conclude by June 15.
Hogan’s order instructed the local school boards to meet the minimum 180-day and 1,080-hour school year requirements mandated by state law. As a result, local school boards were left with the challenge of starting after Labor Day and finishing by June 15 while meeting the minimum day and hour standards, challenges that have included getting creative with the lengths of certain holiday breaks and other scheduled off days or in-service days.
Hogan’s initial executive order included provisions by which local school boards could seek a waiver from the mandated June 15 closing day if a hardship could be proven, such as an exorbitant number of weather-related closures. However, the waiver process has proven to be cumbersome. To that end, a bill was introduced in the General Assembly during the current session that provide local school boards with the flexibility to extend the academic school year by five days without asking the state for a waiver.
The bill was introduced by a Prince George’s County senator when it was learned the school system in that jurisdiction would have to cut its spring break by several days because of the June 15 mandate. This week, Senate Bill 729 passed the full Senate by a 47-0 vote, and then breezed through the House with a 47-0 vote. The Senate then concurred with an amendment to the legislation attached and passed the bill again by a 46-0 vote.
The bill does not change the mandated post-Labor Day school start, but it does allow local school boards to extend their academic school years beyond the mandated June 15 finish by as many as five days. As a result, some school boards across Maryland could extend their school years to as late as June 20 or beyond depending on how the weekends fall on the calendar.
Hogan did not oppose the legislation.
