1931 Ford Model AA School Bus in Greenfield Village by Steve Brown (in memorium)

mLive shares that the decision to start the school year before or after Labor Day has long been a point of debate in Michigan due to the need for student workers in the hospitality & agricultural sectors. Even though the law requiring schools to start post-Labor Day passed 20 years ago, most Michigan schools are still starting before summer’s end:

…The Michigan Department of Education only tracks districts that are granted Labor Day waivers, but not which districts use their waiver or their start dates, according to spokesman Ken Coleman. There are currently 185 waivers held in the state, covering more than 500 school districts and public academies.

Forty-eight of those are held by intermediate school districts (ISDs) or area educational agencies and their waivers almost entirely cover all districts within their regional boundaries. Additionally, 102 individual charter schools or public academies have their own waivers, as well as 30 school districts outside of ISDs. A few hundred more schools and districts, including several ISDs, are not waiver eligible that automatically start after Labor Day. Still, more Michigan schools than not are starting before Labor Day despite the mid-2000s law.

Steve passed on a couple years ago, but his photos and his love of history remain (click for his Michigan in Pictures features). He took these back in 2018 at Greenfield Village, Henry Ford’s outdoor living history museum in Dearborn. The Model AA school bus was acquired from Florida and visitors can use the historic bus for transportation around the Village (for a price). See lots more in his Classic Busses Old & New gallery on Flickr.