Setting School Calendars is a Locality's Job

For more than 20 years, Virginia’s school systems have had to listen to the state when it came to setting the school calendar. The rule, which became law in 1986, is that the school year can’t begin until after Labor Day. In recent years, schools have been able to appeal that ridiculous law and get a waiver to begin the school year before the magical post-Labor Day holiday.

But the schools shouldn’t have to do that. The law ought to be changed to allow local systems to begin the school year as they see fit. Local school officials are in a much better position to decide their calendars than is the state.

That’s what Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Winchester, thought when she introduced legislation that would return control of the school calendar to localities. The Senate Committee on Education and Health approved the measure, but it then was referred to the Commerce and Labor Committee, which declined to vote on it, killing it for this General Assembly session.

So commerce remains king at the Assembly and the education of the state’s students comes second. Is that how it is on the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee? It sure looks that way from here.

A few things have changed in the 23 years since the legislature first required all school systems to operate on the same calendar. The law was dubbed the “King’s Dominion Law” because of the amusement park’s and tourism industry’s support in general of the law.

The thinking at the time, as warped as it was, focused on the importance of the amusement parks staying open for Virginia families through the Labor Day weekend. Some thought was also given to students who were counted on to provide a portion of the labor supply to keep the amusement parks operating.

The idea, obviously, was that the commercial success of amusement parks was more important than the educational process.

In the intervening 23 years, the educational process has changed substantially. Vogel told her colleagues that support for her bill from local school divisions stemmed from their desire to start school before Labor Day to give students as much classroom instruction as possible before standardized testing begins in May.

Loudoun County School Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick spoke in support of the bill before the education committee and had his testimony read before the commerce committee. In his 42 years as an educator, he said, “I have seen first hand the benefits that can be had by starting school before Labor Day ... Certain testing dates, such as those for Advanced Placement courses, are set uniformly across the country, and those students who begin school in August have an advantage in preparing for these rigorous exams.”

The superintendent, who could have been speaking for many of his colleagues, added that he has seen “the trailing off” that occurs in classrooms once standardized testing has finished and classes drag into June.

School officials in Central Virginia have found that by starting before Labor Day gives them flexibility with “snow” days that can be built into the school calendar. They have also found that learning diminishes as the school year drags into June.

The law requiring Virginia’s school systems to delay the start of school until after Labor Day is a relic that should be abandoned, just as were the slates that students once wrote on. The law has outlived its usefulness. It’s time to give control of the school calendar back where it belongs — to the local school officials who know what is best for their students.