A bill pending before the state legislature would bar school districts from starting the class year before Labor Day.
State Sen. Virginia Lyons, a Chittenden County Democrat sponsoring it, says families miss out on vacation time, employers lose labor and young people lose summer employment opportunities when they have to start school before the traditional end of the summer.
Darren Allen, a spokesman for the Vermont Education Association, says the idea’s worth considering.
But some give the idea a failing grade. The state Department of Education opposes it, and school superintendents are leery.