Across Virginia, schoolchildren are heading back to school. And now school divisions are no longer required to wait until Labor Day to open their doors.
Back in 1986, a Winchester Democrat in the House of Delegates started an experiment critics called the Kings Dominion Relief Bill. It prevented school divisions from opening before Labor Day. The experiment was a hit with businesses that relied on labor from high school students, and the next year Governor Gerry Baliles signed it into law.
Now Republican Senator Amanda Chase of Chesterfield County is undoing all of that.
“Our localities and our teachers should have the flexibility, not business, to determine start dates," Chase explains. "I’ve always felt that way.”
So she worked with Eric Terry at the Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association.
“As an industry, we will feel a little pain from this. But as an industry, we do support this,” he says.
But how long before Labor Day?
Democratic Senator Chap Petersen of Fairfax City argued 21 days before Labor Day was too long.
“I used to say August was the new September. Maybe August is the new July," Petersen says. "We’re going to basically get rid of a month of summer.”
Lawmakers ended up declaring schools could not open more than 14 days before Labor Day, a final nail in the coffin to the 30 year old Kings Dominion Law.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
