It made little sense last January for most Chautauqua County schools to be closed in observance of the Asian New Year.

In fact, in our opinion, the best place for children to be in order to learn about the Asian New Year would be in schools given that most parents know relatively little about the Asian New Year. That’s understandable given that the majority of New Yorkers celebrate the New Year on Jan. 1 every year.

As the state continues to debate and add new dates to the state’s list of public holidays, two things should be considered in our opinion. Some bills apply solely to New York City because the city has enough residents who celebrate those holidays for a school closure to make some sense. To their credit many bill sponsors are taking that approach as new bills are introduced – eight during the 2025 legislative session alone. The second approach is that taken by state Sen. Rob Ortt, R-Buffalo and Senate minority leader, who has introduced legislation that would allow school districts to opt out of school holidays observed by fewer than 10% of the district’s residents. That would include Asian New Year, Diwali and a host of potential new holidays that have either been added or are under consideration.

Schools would be encouraged to accommodate those who celebrate a state-designated cultural or religious holiday that isn’t observed in school if a school opts out. Ortt’s bill would not apply to federally designated holidays.

It’s inconvenient for working parents to have to deal with additional school holidays, of course, but the real reason to be wary of adding additional days off during the school year is that more days off complicates decisions about closing school due to weather. Fitting 180 days of instruction into the year shouldn’t be complicated by additional days off for holidays that make no sense for a majority of the state’s residents. No one wants to start the school year before Labor Day. No one wants the school year to last into July. That leaves a finite number of days to squeeze in a 180 day school schedule. Taking additional days off the calendar is a problem for school administrators in a state that often sees a lot of cold, snow and ice in the winter months.

Ortt’s bill makes a lot of sense. Democrats should either pass it during the next legislative session – either by advancing Ortt’s bill itself or coopting the bill as one of their own and passing that version. The idea makes too much sense to let politics get in its way.