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School Start Date

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Bills Would Let Schools Start Before Labor Day

Fairfax County School Board supports legislators' proposal to repeal, or make better exceptions to, "King's Dominion law."

By Erica R. Hendry and Kristen Smith, Capital News Service Lawmakers from across Virginia are pushing a half-dozen bills this legislative session to let public schools start classes before Labor Day. Del. Kaye Kory, D-Falls Church, is among legislators sponsoring bills to repeal Virginia’s “King’s Dominion law,” which prevents local schools from opening before Labor Day unless they get special permission from the state. Kory’s proposal, House Bill 1491, “makes local school boards responsible for setting the school calendar and determining the opening day of the school year.” Currently, school boards can start classes before Labor Day only if they show “good cause” (such as a history of snow-related school closings) and get a waiver from …

In this Article:

McLean Residents React to Support for Earlier School Opening (in McLean Patch) and Comstock to Host Meeting on Class Sizes

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Erica R. Hendry

8:31 am on Saturday, January 19, 2013

HI Kathy -- she was misidentified in the bullet list, but correctly ID'd as a Republican elsewhere in the story. Thanks for the catch, Erica   more ›

Friday, January 18, 2013

Comstock to Host Meeting on Class Sizes

Saturday gathering at McLean Community Center will highlight schools bills by Del. Barbara Comstock.

As enrollment in Fairfax County Public Schools sees rapid growth — a trend expected to continue for at least the next five years — so do class sizes, a sensitive issue with parents and educators sometimes dealing with upwards of 30 children in a single classroom. The issue is one Del. Barbara Comstock (R-34th) aims to address through a number of schools bills she's introducing this session, which she'll discuss with constituents at 9 a.m. Saturday in a town hall style meeting in McLean. HB 1556 would change state code so class size would be calculated on a schoolwide — not divisionwide — basis. The current law's maximum enrollment for classes with a single teacher to 24 students for kindergarten, 30 in grades 1 through 3, 35 in grades 4 …

In this Article:

New Virginia Law Lets More Schools Open Before Labor Day (in McLean Patch), Parents Talk Overcrowding at Capital Improvement Hearing, Enrollment Drives $2.5 B Fairfax Schools Budget, and 1 more ›

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J. Jay Volkert

4:48 pm on Sunday, January 20, 2013

Mr. Jackson It would be great to have the data you bring into question and the studies you desire. I still think comparing Virginia and Texas is not useful.   more ›

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