The state of Texas has debated the start date of public schools for almost three decades, and it is once again a topic of discussion due to a recently filed bill that would allow public schools to start about two weeks earlier.

Plano Rep. Jeff Leach filed a bill that would give public schools the flexibility to start on the second Monday in August instead of the fourth, but the tourism industry strongly opposes it.

“I swear we get a call from a different aspect of tourism trying to say how wrong we are and how we just don’t understand the issue,” Leach said in a Dallas Morning News article. “For me, it goes back to allowing local school districts the ability for them to do what’s right for their local community.”

The state of Texas decided to push the start of school back in the first place in order to increase the revenue that comes from August family vacations.

“I know that the initial reasons [the state] pushed it back was really from the state revenue standpoint around tourism and so, if you think about it, there’s really a lot of weeks in August where people take vacations that because school was starting, they didn’t and so I know that was what made the state say what’s a better deal for the state financially,” principal Chris Mayfield said.

An earlier start date could decrease that revenue and potentially cause more school absences.

“Our family is hopeful LISD will not go back to an earlier start date,” parent Kelli Billingsley said. “Our family enjoys the traditional summer months of vacation. In the month of August, we have yearly family travel plans and summer camps that would have to be cancelled if that [bill would pass]. I would also expect there to be more school absences if there was an earlier start time which would negatively impact school funding. I remember our first year we started in Lovejoy in 2006 there was a very early start day in August, and my daughter missed her first day of school because of a family reunion.”

If Leach’s bill passes, the modifications it creates could cause many students and families to sacrifice time in the summer.

“School starting earlier would cut my trip [to Germany] short, which shortens the amount of time I get to spend with my family who lives over there,” freshman Ella Luebbe said.

If the bill passes and is signed into law, the school district would have a variety of things to consider.

“I think there’s benefits if we started 2 weeks earlier,” principal Chris Mayfield said. “There could be different points in the school year where we could put more breaks and vacations and things that now, we have to cut out because of the later start date, and trying to make sure school is finished by the last day of May. But I think really it’s a conversation between the community, looking at what the needs of the community are, what the wants of the community are, and also when we build a schedule, we look at what is best for the kids. I have been working at school long enough to see the earlier start date and now the late, and I guess there are benefits to both. I think kids enjoy the longer summer.”