8/3/2019 Virginia House Passes Bill Eliminating Post-Labor Day School Opening _ LoudounTimes

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Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012 by Laura Peters | 0 comments | Email this story

House Bill 1063, which would allow local school boards to set the school calendar and theopening 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 LaborDay. 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 receivedgenerous campaign donors from owners of theme parks – giving the name to the law. Since2001, Kings Dominion has given legislators and other state officials more than $225,000 incampaign contributions, according to the Fairfax Times article.“Over the past two years I have heard from many teachers and parents throughout the 34thDistrict who would like the school years to begin before Labor Day so that our students havethe 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 past10 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 actionto keep the school year beginning before or after Labor Day and other years the county had

 waivers to al low them to start the year prior to the holiday.

The 2012 and 2013 school year had been waived allowing Loudoun County School students tostart 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 remaining57 districts who have to wait until after Labor Day to begin school, yet take all thestandardized tests at the same time.”

Comstock said the bill would give local school districts flexibility to determine the best timefor students to start the school year.

The bill received strong bipartisan support and was endorsed by McDonnell, the FairfaxCounty Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia School Board Association, Fairfax and LoudounSchool Boards, the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Association of SchoolSuperintendents.

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 Virginia House passes bill eliminating post-Labor Day schoolopening

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