By Chaneé Patterson
Capital News Service
RICHMOND – Parents should think twice about scheduling a family vacation at the end of August or in early September.
Gov. Robert McDonnell wants to give Virginia school systems the authority to start classes before Labor Day.
McDonnell has proposed repealing Virginia’s so-called “Kings Dominion law,” which prohibits public schools from opening before Labor Day unless they obtain a waiver from the state.
Such waivers have become commonplace: Of the 132 school districts in Virginia, 77 of them received a waiver for this school year.
“So now the exception has become the rule,” McDonnell said at a news conference outlining his education agenda for the 2012 legislative session. “When that happens, it seems like the rule should be modified.”
The Republican governor acknowledged that repealing the Kings Dominion law will have a dramatic impact on the tourism industry.
That industry – including theme parks such as Kings Dominion in Hanover County – traditionally has sought to prevent schools from opening before Labor Day.
However, local officials say they should have the authority to set their school calendars as they see fit.
Beginning school in early September instead of late August puts students at a disadvantage because they don’t have as much time to prepare for standardized national tests, according to the Virginia School Boards Association. The group supports repealing the Kings Dominion law.
“We stand ready to work with you to get that done,” Joan Wodiska, the association’s president, said at McDonnell’s press conference on Monday.
“Much has changed in the nearly three decades since the passage of the Labor Day Law. This relic of the old economy is the definition of a burdensome, costly, outdated and unnecessary state mandate. In fact, today, the state Labor Day law directly conflicts with Virginia’s economic and educational goals. It must be repealed,” said Wodiska, who chairs the Falls Church City School Board.
McDonnell isn’t the only state official clamoring to remove the pre-Labor Day restrictions. Legislators so far have filed eight bills to address the issue.
Four of the bills would eliminate the Labor Day rule entirely and make local school boards “responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening of the school year.” They are:
- House Bill 15, sponsored by Delegate Gregory Habeeb, R-Salem.
- HB 86, by Delegate Thomas Greason, R-Lansdowne (Loudoun County).
- HB 113, by Delegate Joseph Morrissey, D-Richmond.
- HB 434, by Delegate Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach.
Four other bills would modify but not eliminate the school calendar restrictions:
- HB 43, also by Tata, would allow schools to start classes “no earlier than two weeks prior to Labor Day and no later than the day after Labor Day.”
- HB 254, proposed by Delegate Christopher Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, would let classes begin “no earlier than one week before Labor Day.”
- HB 602, sponsored by Delegate James LeMunyon, R-Chantilly, would allow schools to open “no earlier than the fourth Monday in August.”
- And HB 591, by Delegate Donald Merricks, R-Chatham, would remove the post-Labor Day rule for the public schools in Henry County, Pittsylvania County and the city of Martinsville.
The bills will be considered by the House Education Committee.
January 14th, 2012 at 7:53 pm
The only reason this is an issue is because the Commonwealth adheres to something called the “Dillon Rule” which isn’t even a law; only an accepted practice of an interpretation that wasn’t even a Court Opinion in this State. If The Governor and our Representatives had any integrity and believed in Government coming first from the localities instead of a “power over” “top down”approach to governance (something which says power belongs at the higher State level) then he and they would be actively seeking ways to side-step or overrule the previous court rulings that have enshrined the utilization of the “Dillon Rule”in our Commonwealth. We deserve better! Small Government isn’t only an issue for our relationship with a Federal Bureaucracy and it starts with a recognition that the best Governance comes from the bottom up. The things that Governments are actually empowered to do should be strictly limited, increasingly so as the farther they are from the local people themselves, and need to be first determined at a local level before they ever become an issue for a more concentrated level of delegated power to deal with. Change the whole power dynamic! Return decision making to the local level where it belongs. Our local Representatives are much more likely to respond to us on all issue than someone who is trying to speak for hundreds of thousands of us at the State level. Citizenship isn’t about agreeing to be ruled. It is a consent to participate in a cooperative, representative form of Government and have a realistic opportunity to be heard as well as have a real impact on the entire process of Governance. At the State level that is as much a joke as it is at the Federal level. Real Reform has to start with repeal of any court ruling that supports the “Dillon Rule”! The rest of this just wastes time and resources diddling around with distractions.
January 20th, 2012 at 8:38 am
I wonder if the preceding commentator would prefer that EACH locality pass its own set of criminal laws that could differ radically from the Commonwealth criminal code, then have to learn and obey each set on entry. THAT, amongst many other evils, is what Dillon’s Rule prevents.
January 22nd, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Here is the key sentence in this report: “However, local officials say they should have the authority to set their school calendars as they see fit.”
Keep in mind that it will be local officials who will have the power here, not the members of the community. The public actually has more chance of having influence on the Virginia General Assembly than they have on the “local officials.”
Local officials is a code word for the superintendents and the employees of the school districts. The inability of parents to have any meaningful influence over school schedules can be seen in Fairfax County. Fairfax County Public Schools employs 22,980 staff (92.9 percent school based and 7.1 percent non-school based). The teachers and other staff members have an overwhelming influence on the school schedule. Fairfax County dismisses elementary school students two hours early every Monday so the teachers can have planning time. Sure, there are arguments to be made in favor of this policy, but the unfairness here is that policy hasn’t been placed on a school board agenda for county-wide change in two decades. If parents had an effective influence, this issue would at least be placed on the agenda. It’s not even a question of a school board vote, the school board won’t even consider it. If parents want someone to represent the interests of their children, they have a better chance in getting a fair hearing from members of the Virginia General Assembly.