As the school year winds down it is good to look at how schools in other places are ending their year.  Oh wait, they already finished their school year.  Living here in Washington has its advantages and disadvantages.  One of the disadvantages is that our school year ends in late June when schools in other places get out as early as the beginning of May.  

Schools in Washington typically end from mid to late June which when put in context with other schools around the nation is very late.  The main reason that schools get out later in Washington is that it usually does not start to get warm until late June when other places are warming up in April and May.  Additionally, in August Washington’s weather is not unbearable like it is in the south or midwest.  Other areas like to have their kids inside during August so they don’t overheat but that is not a problem in the northwest where it rarely gets to 90 degrees in August.  

I do believe that the Washington school year is a little off from where it should be.  We should start a week earlier than we do now and get out a week earlier.  This is a better schedule because it would put us closer to where other schools around the nation are.  Right now if you want to go and have a family reunion there is pretty much only one month that is free of school for everyone.  If you move the school year back a little but it gives you more time to get that in.  Additionally, some kids in washing get ridiculously short summers if they are going to college because colleges start earlier, and with how late we get out of school some of our summers become a couple weeks instead of a month or two.  Finally, with the climate warming up, making this change now could help us figure out the process for future problems.

This is a debate that will be ongoing for many years.  Not only if we will change the start and end dates but also how we would adjust the schedule within the new dates.  The easiest way to get this change would be to pass a law at the state level so that all the schools are the same and not going at different times.  So if you want this change talk to your representatives and see if this is a change that is possible to make.