The Fort Bend ISD committee tasked with creating next year’s school calendar is wrestling with a “perfect storm” caused by state education mandates and the way days fall on next year’s calendar.

As it struggles to find the best way to pack enough teaching time into a 2017-2018 school year that by state law may not start until nearly September, FBISD’s calendar committee is seeking community input on how to structure next year’s holiday breaks and school calendar as a whole.

The problem stems from a state requirement that does not allow classes to start before the fourth Monday in August. In 2017 the fourth Monday in August will not come until Aug. 28. By comparison, the fourth Monday in August fell on Aug. 22 this year. Meanwhile, school districts are also required by the state to provide a minimum of 75,600 minutes worth of instruction time each school year.

Squeezing that instruction time into a school year that cannot begin until nearly September has the FBISD calendar committee considering shorter holiday break schedules for the 2017-2018 school calendar than are typical. The committee posted an online survey asking for the community to weigh in on different calendar options. The survey has garnered about 10,000 responses so far, according to FBISD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Christie Whitbeck, and chair of the calendar committee.

The online survey seeks feedback on different calendar options and holiday break configurations. Those options include three days off for Thanksgiving verses an entire week, different lengths for the winter break, additional days added in June, and additional minutes added to the school day. The survey will accept responses until Dec. 11. Whitbeck could not estimate how much support each option has garnered.

Whitbeck has been on the calendar committee for four years, and this is the first year they have needed to consider such drastic changes. Since the law governing school year start dates went into effect in 2007, the fourth Monday in August has never fallen as late as it will in 2017.

While the state restricts starting school before a certain date, district can choose to push back the end of the school year deeper into summer, Whitbeck said. Complicating the issue is the committee’s goal of ending the fall semester before the holiday break so students will not need to take final exams upon their return to classes after the holidays.

“We don’t want to have the pressure of finals hanging over kids’ heads during break,” Whitbeck said.

Whitbeck said the committee also wants to continue giving students and faculty the day off in honor of Fort Bend County Fair Day at the end of each September.

Whitbeck said there is no state deadline to finalize the calendar, but the committee hopes to present a calendar for approval to the board of trustees at its meeting on Jan. 23.