And just like that, summer is over.

Monday is the first day of school for students in Gwinnett, Douglas, Coweta and Henry, as well as the City of Atlanta.

The 2012-2013 school year marks the first time that students across the state will be using the Common Core curriculum. It is a nationwide set of standardized academic standards that has been adopted in 47 states, including Georgia.

The standards are in math, English and language arts. The standards are supposed to provide are a common understanding of what students are expected to learn at each grade level and so that a student can graduate high school and succeed in the current market.

Parents of students heading back Monday will have to wait until the weekend to take advantage of the sales tax holiday.

The tax holiday will be Aug. 10-11. It’s back for the first time since 2009. Shoppers won't pay sales tax on clothing and shoes less than $100 per item, computers and accessories $1,000 or less and school supplies less than $20 per item.

Gwinnett County has the largest number of kids returning to class Monday. The school system has nearly 163,000 kids, but the number of new students is significantly lower than years past.

Gwinnett Schools spokesman Jorge Quintana says there are only 265 new students this year compared 7,000 six years ago.

“The climate and the situation of the economy in the country… you have to imagine that’s part of it,” he tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

And while Quintana says no new schools will be opening this year, he says the school system is expanding its online campus.

“We opened it last year as a high school and this year it's going to expand to the middle school level.  We have close to 80 students,” he says.

Quintana says the school system is also beginning a digital transformation this year.  While parents have been able to log onto the “parent portal” to check their children’s progress, students will have their own access this year.

“That’s how they’re going to be able to download their own science textbooks, download videos, (and) instructional material,” he says.

Quintana says teachers will also be able to track how students are doing and what help is available should they need it.

He says the entire digital transformation will take about five years.

In the City of Atlanta, there will be hundreds of students in new schools Monday after the school board’s sweeping redistricting.  In April the Atlanta Board of Education voted to close seven schools. The closings included two middle and five elementary schools.

Students in Bartow and Hall counties head back Friday. Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties resume classes Aug. 13. Carroll County’s first day is Aug. 27.