Passport Question

I have a question concerning passport renewal that I have not found an answer for as of yet. Our passports run out in March 2006. I was wondering if I could renewal now without losing the time from now until March? Or when you renew do they keep the renewal date the same (in our case March)? I have checked every passport site, asked my TA, and called our courthouse (where got our first one), but no one knows. I know several of you have had passports for years and have had to renew them. Does anyone have any answers? Thanks,

Not sure if my above reply is clear. I guess I did lose any time that was remaining. They issue the \"renewed\" passport with a new date (the one when you get it renewed), not the ORIGINAL renewal date from the old passport.