The case against summer vacation seemed to get stronger last year, thanks to a study suggesting that the time off was a major factor in the continuing achievement gap between high-income and low-income students. The Atlantic‘s Conor Clarke recently made the argument again and reminded us that President Obama’s secretary of education, Arne Duncan, has called for schools to be open “eleven, twelve months a year.”

No state has officially switched to a full-year schedule, but today’s Des Moines Register reports that most Iowa school districts will be in session by the end of this week, thanks to hundreds of waivers to the state law setting September 1 as the official start of the school year. 

This slow, district-by-district switch to a longer school year isn’t sitting well with tourism interests and organizers of the Iowa State Fair. The Travel Federation of Iowa made to case to the Register that more time in school means a weaker economy:

• The Iowa Great Lakes area loses $1 million in revenue for every day school begins before Labor Day because attractions must close early so that summer employees, many of whom are teens, can return to school. Consequently, the number of visitors diminishes.

• The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque reported 485 fewer visitors per week after school started, which added up to $4,486 in lost revenue a week from admission alone.

• King’s Pointe Resort in Storm Lake reported a revenue loss of $78,334 over a two-week period in August from one year to the next once school start dates were moved up.

Educators can point to all the benefits of year-round schooling, but we’re not likely to scrap summer vacation with so many tourist dollars at stake. Perhaps education reform advocates should be pushing for more winter carnivals and cold-weather attractions so that the tourism sector doesn’t depend as heavily on those two months off from school.