Monday, January 28, 2008
Editorial: A quest to make sense of the school year
The longstanding Kings Dominion law deserves death. But don't hold your breath.
From the RoundTable blog
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We understand that part of the public school mission is work-force training, but we are equally sure that taxpayers have something more lofty in mind than sweeping the grounds of amusement parks.
Yet every year, the needs of Virginia's schools are subordinated to the needs of Virginia's tourism industry for a cheap and plentiful pool of workers -- high school students -- to get vacation destinations through the Labor Day holiday and the end of summer.
Most college kids are back on campus by then, and someone has to tear those tickets and sweep up the detritus of millions of snow cone-licking tourists dropping their money in various Virginian tills. Tills such as those at Kings Dominion, the big theme park near Richmond.
Thus, the Old Dominion has what is known as its Kings Dominion law, a ridiculous piece of special-interest legislation that, for the last 20-plus years, has forbidden public schools to hold their first day of classes before Labor Day. Unless, that is, school districts can show that in the past, they've had to cancel classes so many days due to inclement weather that the late start might cause the schools to fall short of the number of days needed to fill out the school year.
This doesn't make sense to Del. William Fralin Jr., a Republican from Roanoke, who -- bless him -- is the chief, and as of last week the only, sponsor of a bill in this year's General Assembly to overthrow the Kings Dominion law.
His bill, HB 255, would amend the law. It now states:
"Each local school board shall set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend school shall be after Labor Day. The Board of Education may waive this requirement on a showing of good cause."
Fralin would have the law read:
"Each local school board shall be responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening of the school year."
It's short. It's sensible. It reflects the right priorities, allowing schools to set their calendars according to their needs.
We don't expect it will go anywhere.
