(Texas Scorecard) – A Texas lawmaker is proposing a later start to the school year, saying the change will save energy and money, help protect the power grid, and improve life for school kids.
State Rep. Jared Patterson (R–Frisco) suggested students should return to school in September instead of August to avoid having to cool campus buildings during the hottest weeks of summer when power demand and prices are high.
“I think our parents had it right starting school after Labor Day,” Patterson said last week on Inside Texas Politics.
“We cool down some of the largest buildings in most communities across the state of Texas during the hottest month of the year, which costs more money and puts more of a strain on the grid,” he explained.
Patterson also argued that it’s too hot for students to be playing or practicing sports and other activities outside.
“We can push things back just a few weeks and make life better for Texas school children,” he added. “We can save a lot of money and help protect the grid.”
Several schools across the state reported air conditioning outages as students returned to classrooms during the last three weeks of August.
Patterson, whose three kids attend Frisco public schools, said feedback from other parents has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I love this proposal,” North Texas mom Summer Crow commented on social media.
“Starting Texas schools in September would not only take pressure off the grid but would also financially benefit the districts by reducing utility costs and wear on infrastructure,” wrote Crow. “Districts cannot do this on their own due to athletic calendars. It needs to be all Texas districts at once.”
Other parents like the earlier school start because districts can take a full week off at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas, and a week for Spring Break. Districts have also used earlier start dates to add more teacher development days.
A flexible calendar is one of the options available to school districts that designate themselves as a District of Innovation—which the vast majority have done.
A law passed in 2015 allows independent school districts that meet certain criteria to exempt themselves from some Texas education laws.
Exemptions in locally adopted innovation plans include setting earlier start dates, shortening classroom instruction time, and hiring teachers who are not certified.
The Texas Education Agency does not have the authority to pre-approve districts’ innovation plans.
The agency is authorized to enforce compliance but acknowledges that “some plans may claim unallowable exemptions.”
Currently, 980 Texas school districts are operating as Districts of Innovation.
Another law passed in 2015 changed schools’ required amount of classroom instruction time from 180 days to 75,600 minutes, giving districts even more scheduling flexibility.
Since then, more than 100 districts have adopted four-day school weeks. Their primary goal is improving student attendance and teacher retention, but some have also cited savings on electricity and other operating costs.
Patterson promised to propose a measure next year recommending the later school start, calling it a “bipartisan, commonsense issue.”
The idea is one of many changes to the state’s education system that will be considered during the next Texas legislative session, which begins in January 2025.