GET RID OF LAW THAT SETS SCHOOL OPENING

Back in the early 1980s, school districts were deciding to open earlier and earlier. Urban districts traditionally had waited until after Labor Day to start schools, but even some city districts were opting for earlier starting dates, because it allowed more flexibility in scheduling the school year without pushing classes well into June of the following year. Districts in smaller communities and rural areas, however, had long planned on starting sometime in August.

In 1983, the Missouri Legislature was convinced that requiring all school districts to wait until after Labor Day to start school would be a good thing. Tourism officials, for example, forcefully argued that starting school before Labor Day, the traditional end of summer activities that start with the Memorial Day weekend, was hurting the vacation business. They estimated Missouri tourism was losing about $40 million a year because of the early school schedules.

So the Legislature passed the law that allowed schools to open no earlier than the day after Labor Day. Unless ... .

Recognizing that non-urban districts already had developed a pattern of earlier opening dates, and recognizing that local school boards ought to have some say in the matter, the Legislature put a fuzzy option in the bill. This option allowed for an agricultural exemption. Districts could opt to start earlier than Labor Day because some students might be needed for farm work the following spring. The law never accounted for the possibility that those same students might also be needed for fall harvest chores long after Labor Day.

In any event, school districts -- many with dubious claims to any connection with farming -- chose to seek the agriculture exemption and start classes before Labor Day. Last year, for example, all but 45 of the state's 525 districts started sometime in August.

The tourism industry continues to cite lost revenue as a result of this trend. Some officials claim the tourism industry could have taken in about $47 million last year if schools had started a week after Labor Day.

For some reason, school board and administrators aren't buying the arithmetic of the tourism folks. And many boards are choosing to retain their right to set school policy -- including the academic schedule -- instead of letting state or federal government run their local schools.

That's the way it should be. And that is the reason the Missouri law requiring schools to start after Labor Day -- even if they don't -- should be abolished. Taking the law off the books would be one small indication from the Legislature that it recognizes the common sense of letting local school boards make that kind of decision without applying for an agriculture exemption.