Recently Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot proposed, for the second time, that Maryland pass a law mandating that all public school systems in the state start school after Labor Day. With so many real education issues facing our state, including increased standardized testing, decreasing budgets, and counties swamped with a deluge of new students, this proposal at best is a frivolous tourism issue, but at worst can actually cause harm. I’ll start with the harm. Earlier starting dates front-load instruction in August to best prepare students for state assessment tests in the spring, while inclement weather causes students and teachers to lose many days of instruction in the winter. High sch