Save Indiana Summers is a non-profit, statewide coalition of parents, teachers and community members disappointed with the ever-earlier start to the school year. Our mission is to educate consumers of the education system, taxpayers and other interested people about the negative impact the early-August school start date and nontraditional school calendars have on our students, teachers and families. It is our hope that we can work with parents and school districts to help establish educationally and fiscally sound school calendars; a school calendar that allows more money to flow into teachers' salaries, classroom supplies and educational services ... without a heavier tax burden on Indiana families.

Student Employment

• A study by the Employment Policies Institute, May 1994, found that students who work during the summer are more likely to obtain better jobs upon graduation.
• A full summer of employment gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom and gain valuable insight in choosing a career path.
• Summer employment allows many students and teachers the opportunity to earn extra money that their families rely on.

Teacher’s Continuing Education

• Teachers are expected to remain competitive and to continue updating their skills; the shortened summer inhibits professional development.
• A shorter summer for teachers means teachers can only attend one of the two summer school sessions, so it often takes twice as long to earn advanced degrees.
• Many school districts offer greater pay for teachers with advanced degrees. If advanced degrees are beneficial enough to merit pay increases, shouldn’t we ensure teachers have time to achieve advanced degrees?
• A September 2004 report, published in the journal Education Policy Analysis Archives found that students of teachers certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards saw greater test-score gains, on average, than did those of teachers without certification. The study was conducted by Arizona State University researchers.
• College and University systems often enroll teachers from many different school districts. When no uniform school calendar is in place, it is often difficult, if not impossible, to create a college or university calendar that allows teachers from all districts to maximize summer learning.

Child Care

• Starting school early creates numerous breaks during the school year — forcing parents to find childcare at non-traditional times. These small breaks often force parents to pay higher prices for care than during the summer months.
• Communities usually support educational learning opportunities during summer months — not during a "day off" twice a month.
• A one-day holiday means students who would not be left unsupervised during the summer are more likely to be left “home alone.”

Fall Semester Exams

• When semester exams are administered in no way impacts academic performance. The top 10 academic states, in four commonly used state education ranking systems, have two things in common. The majority begin school in late-August, early-September and administer semester finals after the winter break.
• Students in Arlington Public Schools in Virginia, a state that has been starting school after Labor Day for many years, had the highest cumulative SAT scores in the nation in 2006, with an average composite score of 1620.
• Long-term learning is enhanced when students have an opportunity to review and study material that they have been presented over a semester in a thoughtful and timely manner. This is called the "spacing effect" and is well documented in psychology literature.
• The week prior to the Winter Break is often the most hectic for high school students. By placing end-of-semester exams during this time, we often force students to choose between participating in community activities and studying for exams.
• Teachers report student concentration is lowest the days before a long holiday and energy levels are the highest. If the goal of education is retention, wouldn't it be better to allow students to return refreshed and ready to "hit the books?" If students are not able to retain information for two weeks, they never committed the material to memory in the first place.

Local Autonomy

• The laws governing education in most states are extensive.
• Providing uniformity in school start dates in no way minimizes the work of the school board or the school community. The district would still be responsible for setting yearly divisions, semesters or trimesters, assigning holidays and teacher workdays.

Non-Custodial Parents

• Non-custodial parents are normally granted their long-term block of visitation during the summer months. When we take time away from children's summers, in many instances, we are reducing quality time with their non-custodial parent.
• Non-custodial parents are normally unable to make up this lost time in the summer during piecemeal vacations offered during the school year.

Educational excellence is expected from our Indiana schools. As parents and community members, we expect nothing less. Our dedicated teachers work hard every day to provide our students with the best education possible with limited resources. School administrators work hard to meet state and federal deadlines and balance the budget. School board members volunteer countless hours to our school systems weekly. We owe it to our children to explore the benefits of a traditional school calendar, with a school start date no earlier than the day after Labor Day.