Among the 35 points in the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s legislative agenda for the state Legislature is a uniform school start date that would begin no sooner than the last Monday in August.
For 2016-17, Aug. 1 is the starting date for Cobb County School District students and Aug. 3 for Marietta City Schools students instead of Aug. 29 as proposed by the chamber.
Start dates approved by their respective boards of education for 2017-18 are July 31 for Cobb and Aug. 3 for Marietta.
With travel and tourism as the second largest industry in the state and the largest industry in Cobb, the uniform start date would allow Georgia communities to maximize the economic benefit of a longer summer season, according to the Cobb Chamber report.
An added benefit would be greater job and career training opportunities for youths and students.
Information: Slade Gulledge, sgulledge@CobbChamber.org.
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