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Research Services has previously investigated issues surrounding an earlier school year start date for Broward County Public Schools (Clement & Witkowski, 2002; Jackson, Brown, & Sutton, 2000; Schoeneberger, 2002). Much of this discussion has centered around the observation that many Broward students begin their school attendance after the official start of the school year. This is a disadvantage for students to miss the crucial first days of school. Other discussion has centered on the amount of time for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) preparation, early matriculation to college, and the timing of winter break relative to semester examinations. This report summarizes previous findings and introduces new information concerning changing the calendar. Information has been gathered from a variety of sources to provide a comprehensive picture of the benefits and disadvantages of an earlier school year start date. All Florida school districts have transitioned to an earlier school year start date, with the exceptions of Broward and Miami-Dade. The majority of Florida districts began the 2002-03 school year prior to August 10. Recent research briefs have presented data to add to the ongoing discussion regarding the school year start date (Clement & Witkowski, 2002; Jackson, Brown, & Sutton, 2000). This brief presents new quantitative and qualitative evidence that was gathered from a variety of sources including: · Eighth Annual Customer Survey of Students, Parents, and Teachers, · Enrollment Counts between the first and twentieth day