Georgia schools would start a couple of weeks later under a proposal by state schools Superintendent Kathy Cox to use results from summer retests to help more public schools begin the school year with higher test scores.

A late August start wouldn't take effect until the 2009-10 school year, said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education. Most metro area school systems start in early to mid-August.

The change to use scores from summer retests could help more schools reach the testing goals required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act because students typically score better the second time around. Of the 374 schools that missed testing goals last year, 36 would have met the mark if results from retests were used, Cardoza said.

The federal law requires states to test students annually and that a certain percentage of students pass the exams. Schools that repeatedly miss testing goals face increasingly severe sanctions, ranging from having to offer free tutoring to a possible takeover by the state.

Georgia's annual Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests determine if schools meet the law's testing goals, called adequate yearly progress and commonly referred to as AYP. The tests are administered between April 2 and May 2.

State law requires students in grades three, five and eight to pass portions of the CRCT for promotion. If students fail, they retake the tests that summer.

This was the first year the U.S. Department of Education let states apply to use scores from retests to calculate AYP, said Dana Tofig, spokesman for the state Education Department. Georgia received permission to use retest data, but doing so raises a problem.

The federal law requires that parents be told their school's AYP status at least two weeks before the new school year begins. With some Georgia schools starting classes in late July or early August, state officials won't have enough time to use the results of the summer retests to determine which schools met testing goals. Beginning this year, schools could have two different AYP status rulings —- one with summer retest scores and one without.

This problem would be eliminated if schools started in late August and if all districts gave the CRCT and its retests around the same time. Cox plans to discuss this during Friday's Georgia School Boards Association meeting in Savannah.

"This is up to the local districts to decide, and the superintendent will ask them what they want to do," Tofig said.

Parents who have advocated for a later school start date cheered the state's suggestion. Many parents have pushed for a post-Labor Day start to preserve summer vacation and to keep kids out of school during hot weather.

Cobb County parent Lane Holt founded the group Georgians Need Summers.

"I'm thrilled, just thrilled, this is even being considered," Holt said. "It's perfectly logical from a testing perspective to do this. If you want an honest picture of how kids are performing on this test, you want everyone on the same calendar."

Other parents weren't so sure. Gwinnett mother Stephanie Kratofil said she would support the change if it would help children, but she didn't think this was being done for students.

"I'm not an educator or anything, but I think this is more about making schools look good," Kratofil said. "It's about making [Cox] look good. Maybe it is to help schools make goals they already should have been making."

State Democrats raised similar concerns during a news conference Tuesday about low scores on parts of this year's CRCT. This year's high failure rates, especially on the eighth-grade math test, angered parents and others. The low math scores mean more middle schools could miss AYP this year.

"It's about making AYP and not having the other shoe fall," said House Minority Leader Dubose Porter (D-Dublin). "By delaying school opening, you're still not targeting students that need the help, you're still not giving teachers the resources they need for the classroom."

Tofig said the federal law expects students to show proficiency by passing state exams. If students pass retests, they've met federal expectations.

"The important thing is they are showing proficiency," Tofig said.

An overwhelming number of the state's 181 school districts must agree to the change for it to move forward, Tofig said.

School start dates are a sensitive issue, and many superintendents have said it should be a local decision. Cherokee County Superintendent Frank Petruzielo said he wouldn't support a change. The district already decided to start the 2009-10 school year Aug. 3.

Petruzielo said the issue is more complex than how schools might fare under federal law.

"Our calendar has been put together from a tremendous amount of parent and staff involvement," Petruzielo said. "Ensuring our kids perform well academically is supported by the calendar. The state superintendent may like the idea of everybody being on the same calendar, but you don't want to lose the baby with the bath water."

Staff writers Michelle E. Shaw, Aaron Gould Sheinin and Diane R. Stepp contributed to this article.

ALREADY ON BOOKS

State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox is suggesting classes start in late August. The earliest the change would take effect is the 2009-10 school year. Some districts already have set their calendars for that year; here are the planned start dates:

CHEROKEE....Aug. 3

COBB........Aug. 10

DEKALB......Aug. 10

FULTON......Aug. 10

GWINNETT....Aug. 10