# Why Does KY Start School Year So Early? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2023, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025 "2023-08-24T09:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2023, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/41 "2023-08-27T18:45:21Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Nah, that’s way later than I’ve ever seen school get out for the summer anywhere. And Memorial Day is way earlier. But the Solstice is at least the day that most folks (in the US, at least) think of as “the official start of summer”. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/42 "2023-09-03T02:47:32Z")
> [@bump](#): > > All I’m saying is that the Platonic ideal of the school year in the US is from Labor Day through Memorial Day, and that if you have some defined number of minutes of education combined with several weeks of off time, it’s not actually possible to do that, so it’s got to give somewhere. In the school district I went to HS in, what gave was “several weeks of off time” - we didn’t get that. In elementary school we did get several weeks of breaks, so we were in school weeks after Memorial Day. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/43 "2023-09-03T03:50:12Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > In the school district I went to HS in, what gave was “several weeks of off time” - we didn’t get that. What I remember in elementary-through-high school was two weeks off at Christmas/New Year’s time, one week Spring/Easter break, and a few other individual days off throughout the year. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/44 "2023-09-03T20:32:08Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > He said that they tried to time school year to the local colleges and universities. Sorry if I missed the point, but can you explain the logic of this? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/45 "2023-09-03T20:52:10Z")
Colleges require applications, transcripts, and AP scores to be in by a certain time so it helps if the school calendar is designed to work around those dates. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/46 "2023-09-03T23:18:21Z")
I think in elementary school (a different district than where I had high school) we got more time off in November and around Easter. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/47 "2023-09-04T00:13:55Z")
Yes , but colleges aren’t waiting for transcripts of the semester that ends in mid-May to make admission decisions and applications and SAT / test scores aren’t tied to when the school year ends. Application deadlines are generally between November and January and the SAT and ACT are given multiple times a year. Whether a particular school’s year ends in mid May or late June doesn’t matter if the application deadline is in January and the test scores are needed in December. I don’t know what that person meant about timing the school year to local colleges and universities specifically. It makes sense for high school/middle school/grade school years to be compatible for a lot of reasons ( maybe they use the same buses, lots of families have kids in two or even three levels of school) but a high school year being compatible with local colleges and universities doesn’t make much sense if for no other reason than that many of the graduates of that high school won’t be going to a local college/university and many college/university students won’t have graduated from that high school. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/48 "2023-09-04T13:55:08Z")
A couple of reasons for tying college schedules to high school/elementary schedules leap to mind (no idea if they are the reasons this person was talking about): 1. Some high school students take college courses (so it’s convenient if those courses have the same start and stop times as the high school schedule, because high school administrators will be keeping track of the student’s attendance) 2. College students in education will be doing field work in high schools and elementary schools, so again, it’s convenient if the schedules line up fairly well ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/49 "2023-09-04T14:37:46Z")
It’s not so much a matter of matching to local universities. Almost all US universities are on an August-to-December, January-to-May schedule. Last I heard, Ohio State was the only major university that wasn’t (though I’m sure you could find a few smaller schools here and there that also differ). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/50 "2023-09-04T15:00:33Z")
Even Ohio State is on that schedule now. They switched to semesters about ten years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2023, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025/51 "2023-09-05T01:59:10Z")
Back in my school days, our school system always began the Thursday before Labor Day. I remember my Dad explaining to me that the teachers wanted it that way. It gave everyone two days to settle in, and the serious work could begin after the holiday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-ky-start-school-year-so-early/989025.md?page=2)