The push for a statewide standard school start date did not even get a vote during this year's legislative session.
"It's out of control. All we're asking is one thing. Let's not start school before the third week in August," said State Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah), who sponsored HB 936.
But now a State Senate Study Committee could go further by considering a mandatory start date after Labor Day.
State Sen. Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) has been named the chairman of the Senate Study Committee on Evaluating the School Year Calendar of Georgia Public Schools, which plans to start meeting soon.
"August is typically the hottest time of year when energy bills reach their peak and student-athletes’ safety is a big concern," Sen. Gooch said in a release. "I believe that for these reasons and others, it is a good time to take a look at how we compare to other states who still utilize a more traditional school calendar with their start dates after Labor Day."
Sen. Gooch said he wants to hear from stakeholders about how a change would impact schools, students, parents, and Georgia's tourism industry.
"Our goal is to determine if a later start date is feasible and if it would provide additional opportunities for families to take a vacation together while increasing the availability of summer workers for our booming travel and hospitality industries," he added.
The Georgia Travel Association supports the idea of what it calls "sensible guidelines."
But many parents actually like the idea of a shorter summer.
"We had 11 weeks of summer. They said take two weeks away and redistribute it throughout the year and give our kids more breaks throughout the school year," JD Hardin, a spokesman for Henry County Schools, told 11Alive before the start of the 2017 school year.
A schedule with more breaks during the school year is known as a "balanced calendar," which is now used by about 75 percent of public school systems in Georgia.
By law, Georgia school calendars must include 180 days of instruction.
The study committee must report its findings on or before December 1.
