School year already underway at some California districts as start dates keep creeping earlier

Children wearing colorful new backpacks, parents in tow, hugged and high-fived Principal Gina Lopez and other school staff as they streamed under an arch of multicolored balloons, accompanied by pulsating music, on the first day of school at George Washington Elementary School in Lodi on Tuesday. 

Lodi Unified in San Joaquin County was among the first California school districts to return to school this year, beginning just after Sweetwater Union High School District in San Diego, which reopened on July 24. Some districts, many with year-round schedules, started even earlier.

California school districts have moved away from the September return to school that was common in California and other states until the 1990s. School districts sometimes made the change to allow students to complete their semester studies and take their final exams before the winter break. It also gives students more time to prepare for state standardized tests.

Sweetwater Union decided to complete its first semester by December to maximize instruction days before Advanced Placement testing, according to a statement from the district.

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