The Los Angeles Unified School District has proposed an academic calendar that would start about three weeks earlier and end sooner.

The district says the idea is a step forward academically, arguing that students would be better prepared for exams. 

The first semester would end before winter break; therefore the exams would not be put off for after winter vacation.

The High School Exit Exam and Advanced Placement exams would come later in the year, giving teachers more time to cover additional material.

The earlier start will be more similar to the calendar of community colleges and will hopefully allow students to take enrichment classes and apply for summer jobs sooner, making them more competitive candidates for jobs and higher education.

Critics of the proposed calendar worry that younger students will not share in these benefits.

Some teachers and parents do not want a warmer school year by exchanging the June temperatures for the hot August temperatures.

The new calendar has already been put in place by eighteen schools that made the change over summer.

The Board of Education is expected to make their decision on the proposal sometime in December.