Virginia House passes bill eliminating post-Labor Day school opening – Loudoun Times
By admin. Filed in News |
House Bill 1063, which would allow local school boards to set the school calendar and the opening of the school year, passed 76-23 in the House of Delegates on Feb. 2.
The bill is awaiting debate in the state Senate.
Del. Bob Tata (R-85th) introduced the bill at the request of Gov. Bob McDonnell. The bill, also sponsored by Del. Barbara Comstock (R-34th) would eliminate the post-Labor Day opening requirement, which is also known as “Kings Dominion Law.”
The Kings Dominion Law prohibits school systems to start their school year before Labor Day. Many counties have received waivers in order to counter the law and start their school years earlier, which has been the case in Loudoun County for some years.
A Fairfax Times article written in August 2011, said 25 years ago, state lawmakers received generous campaign donors from owners of theme parks – giving the name to the law. Since 2001, Kings Dominion has given legislators and other state officials more than $225,000 in campaign contributions, according to the Fairfax Times article.
“Over the past two years I have heard from many teachers and parents throughout the 34th District who would like the school years to begin before Labor Day so that our students have the same opportunity to learn as a majority of students in the commonwealth and the country,” Comstock said in a release.
According the Wayde Byard, Loudoun County Schools public information officer, in the past 10 years the school year has started before Labor Day five times.
Byard said that in some of those years it had been the Loudoun County School Board’s action to keep the school year beginning before or after Labor Day and other years the county had waivers to allow them to start the year prior to the holiday.
The 2012 and 2013 school year had been waived allowing Loudoun County School students to start class in August, Byard said.
“Currently 77 of 134 school districts in Virginia have been granted waivers to allow schools to begin before Labor Day,” Comstock explained, “which is unfair to students in the remaining 57 districts who have to wait until after Labor Day to begin school, yet take all the standardized tests at the same time.”
Comstock said the bill would give local school districts flexibility to determine the best time for students to start the school year.
The bill received strong bipartisan support and was endorsed by McDonnell, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia School Board Association, Fairfax and Loudoun School Boards, the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.
Article source: http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/virginia_house_passes_bill_eliminating_post-labor_day_school_opening123/