The majority of Virginians would support a flexible starting date for the school year, according to a poll conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Commonwealth Education Poll found 68 percent of respondents believe localities should have the option to start the public school year before Labor Day. The tourism industry disagrees, and has heavily lobbied the General Assembly to keep the law in place, arguing August is the best month for the state’s amusement parks and beach attractions.
Since 1986, the so-called “Kings Dominion Law” has prevented school divisions from opening before Sept. 1. If a school division can demonstrate it has had to close an average of eight days per year for five of the past 10 years because of bad weather, it can obtain a waiver. Schools demonstrating “innovative” curriculums, such as year-round school, can also apply for waivers. In recent years, nearly half of the state’s 132 school systems have received waivers from the Kings Dominion law.
VCU polled 827 random adults by landline and cell phone between Dec. 27, 2012 and Jan. 3. The poll showed the strongest support for a flexible school start date came from South Central Virginia, where 71 percent of 142 adults polled favored that option. In Tidewater, 67 percent of 186 adults favored the flexible start date.
Out of the 181 current and former school employees surveyed, 68 percent favored the flexible start date. Of the 222 parents of public school students polled, 62 percent were in favor of flexibility. See more poll results here https://www.cepi.vcu.edu/polls/2012-2013/CEPI%202012-13%20poll%20Rel%201.pdf.
Local school divisions say the flexibility would be welcome. Standardized tests, including the Standards of Learning and Advanced Placement exams, have designated dates set statewide or nationwide, said Katherine Goff, spokeswoman for York County Schools. “An earlier start date could be advantageous in helping prepare students, and provide additional remediation, prior to such tests,” she said.
In Williamsburg-James City County Schools, the set start date has created scheduling challenges. “This year, we have put additional focus on professional development for teachers, and it has been difficult to create a calendar that includes 180 school days, work days (including room set-up at the start of the year), school holidays and professional development time all within an inflexible calendar,” said Betsy Overkamp-Smith, spokeswoman for WJCC Schools.
Local tourism professionals feel differently. An earlier start date could cost area attractions millions of dollars in revenue from the busiest months of the year, said Bob Harris, senior vice president for tourism at the Greater Williamsburg Chamber and Tourism Alliance.
He said July and August attract families taking weeklong vacations before they return back to school, and many combine visits to Williamsburg attractions with trips to Virginia Beach. Because the water at the oceanfront is cooler in June and July, tourism professionals fear families will skip Hampton Roads in favor of warmer climates if they have to take vacation earlier in the summer.
In its legislative priorities for 2013, the chamber cited a study conducted by the University of Minnesota Tourism Center that found post-Labor Day start dates increase by 50 percent the likelihood a family will travel at least one or two nights away from home in August or September. In addition, the likelihood of families reporting a trip away from home between May and September is 30 percent higher when school starts after Labor Day. The study also found the effect is completely absent in statistically identical demographic and economic families with no children.
In its summary, the chamber estimated shortening the tourism season by starting school in August would “forgo tourism spending by $274 million a year” and estimated the total economic consequences, including job losses, would be more than $369 million a year.
Last year, the Senate Education and Health Committee killed three bills that would have allowed school boards to set the school calendar start date. The issue is back again this year. Sen. Ralph Smith (R-Roanoke) and Sen. John S. Edwards (D-Roanoke) have teamed to co-sponsor a bill that would allow school boards to set the start date, and the bill is currently back in the Senate Education and Health Committee. In the House of Delegates, five nearly identical bills have been introduced by delegates from Northern Virginia and Salem.
