MADISON (AP) — Summer break for school children could end earlier under a proposal the state’s tourism industry is lining up to fight.
Innkeepers, restaurant owners and tourism officials lobbied hard to enact a law that took effect in 2000 barring schools from opening any earlier than Sept. 1. The requirement gave families more time in the prime summer months to vacation and spend money. It also allowed high school students to work longer at large tourist destinations, like the Wisconsin Dells.
But freshman Republican Jim Ott of Mequon doesn’t think the law makes sense. There’s already a sign that Ott’s bill, despite garnering nine co-sponsors, likely will go nowhere fast in the Legislature.