>Tamar,
>
>It is my understanding that here in Texas, the earlier starting date is due to the additional time-off at Christmas and Spring Break. The students have to attend xxx number of days of class.
>

That makes sense. In fact, a cousin who teaches in California told me that they get 3 or 4 weeks off at Christmas time because so many of the families go home to Mexico.

Here, we get no more than 2 weeks for Christmas and 1 for Spring Break. Some districts around here (though not mine) have only 3 days for Spring Break (Thursday, Friday, Monday).

Tamar