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Texans for a Traditional School Year
News Release
March 12, 2003

For More Information Contact:
Tina Bruno @ 210-559-5277

STARTING SCHOOL LATER PUTS MORE STUDENTS IN TEXAS CLASSROOMS

Uniform School Start Date Increases Student Attendance by 60 Percent

(San Antonio) – Sixty percent more Texas public school students were present on the first day of class this school year versus three years ago, according to data released today by Texans for a Traditional School Year.

The group reported that 102,427 students were absent from class on the first day of the 
2002-03 school year -- as compared with attendance figures for the first week of September. A similar study in 1999, prior to the passage of the uniform school calendar law, showed 250,000 students not in school during the same time period. 

The dramatic swing in first-day attendance came as more than 90 percent of Texas school districts complied with a new state law mandating that the school year begin no earlier than the week of August 21. 

“The numbers clearly show that the uniform school calendar bill has had a positive impact on Texas students,” said Tina Bruno, spokesperson for Texans for a Traditional School Year. 

Opponents of a uniform school calendar claim that students will miss the first few days of school regardless of when school starts. Yet the study by Texans for a Traditional School Year shows school district attendance increases the closer we get to Labor Day.

Starting in the 1990s, an increasing number of districts adopted calendars that shifted away from the traditional post-Labor Day start, with some starting classes as early as the first week of August.

Bruno said Texans for a Traditional School Year, a grass roots coalition of educators, parents and business leaders, originally looked into the school calendar issue based on conversations with teachers. 

“Teachers have told us for years that early-August school start dates were not good for students. All our study did was to confirm what they saw every year,” Bruno said. “As the school start date moved farther away from Labor Day, many teachers saw fewer students in the chairs. And by the time September rolled around, their classrooms were close to full.”