Steve Burns
WMAL.com
OCEAN CITY, Md. – (WMAL) Representing the culmination of a long-running effort to “let summer be summer,” Maryland Governor Larry Hogan on Wednesday signed an Executive Order mandating all public school systems in Maryland begin their school years after Labor Day starting in 2017. It also requires them to end school by June 15.
Hogan made the announcement on the boardwalk in Ocean City, a place he and other state officials insisted is suffering in late summer thanks to the early start in most other areas of the state.
“Studies have shown that starting school after Labor Day will have no adverse effects whatsoever,” Hogan said, “but it will actually provide a substantial boost to Maryland’s economy.”
He maintained the measure had vast statewide support, at one point mentioning a recent poll that pinned support at about 75% across Maryland. The only opposition, he said, came from the teachers’ union.
“The public really has been demanding it for a long time, but the teachers’ union has stopped it from happening,” he said. “They actually control the Legislature.”
Amid questions of Hogan’s authority to issue such an order affecting every public school system in the state, he said there are “no legal questions.”
“The Constitution clearly gives us the right to do it,” he said.
He said schools still have the opportunity to apply for snow day waivers if they cannot reach the required 180 days of school by June 15.
In a statement, the Maryland State Education Association says the move shows Hogan is “only interested in grabbing headlines,” not actually supporting children, characterizing it as another public school cut from his administration.
“…Research shows that it can worsen summer brain drain among students from poor socioeconomic backgrounds,” the statement read. “And it’s not only a cut—it’s a summer tax on the thousands of working families who don’t have the extra money or vacation time to spend in Ocean City but who will now be forced to scrape together hundreds or thousands of dollars annually to cover additional child care costs from a longer summer.”
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