Post-Labor Day School Start Date Would End Confusion: Gov. Hogan

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Renewing a likely tussle with several of the state's school systems, Gov. Larry Hogan on Wednesday said that he will propose legislation to require that the first day of school come after Labor Day. Hogan's Universal School Start Act of 2020 requires Maryland public schools to start after the September holiday, which he said has caused confusion statewide and defies public opinion.

“We have taken a lot of actions over the past five years, but I can’t think of a single one that has more widespread, enthusiastic support across the state,” Hogan said. “But after two years of it working very well, and after the 2018 election was completed, last year in 2019 special interests snuck a bill in and legislators ... ignored the people again by reversing this common sense action with a misguided piece of legislation, which has the potential to cause mass confusion this fall and in future years with a potential for 24 different start dates spread over several weeks.”

Classes for the 2020-2021 school year officially will begin after Labor Day on Sept. 8, 2020, in Anne Arundel County Public Schools, the school board voted earlier this winter. The Baltimore County Board of Education and Harford County public schools have also decided the first day of school will be Tuesday, Sept. 8.

In contrast, students in Montgomery County Public Schools will return to classes on Aug. 31 under the 2020-2021 school calendar adopted in December. Students in the Howard County Public School System will start the next school year on Tuesday, Aug. 25. And in Prince George's County, the first day of class will be Aug. 31 this year.

Some parents and educators had pushed for a return to starting the school year in August after Maryland legislators passed a law in March 2019 that said school districts may start the school year before Labor Day, then overturned Hogan's veto. The governor criticized the legislation, which he said "unravels years of bipartisan work and study."

In 2016, Hogan issued an executive order that schools had to wait until after Labor Day to start classes, citing the boost it would give tourism, plus polls that said residents preferred a later start. But several school districts strenuously objected to the change. When members of the Montgomery County Board of Education sent Hogan a letter asking him to take another look at his executive order, the governor called them "whiny."

In his announcement Wednesday, Hogan said polling has consistently shown the "overwhelming majority" of Marylanders want school to start after Labor Day.

In 2013, legislators voted 170-7 to study moving the school start date to after Labor Day, which was signed into law by former Gov. Martin O’Malley. But five bills that would have required a post-Labor Day start failed between 2013 and 2016.

That prompted Hogan in September 2016 to sign an executive order that mandated school districts start classes after Labor Day beginning in the 2017-18 school year. That was overturned by the legislature last session.