VA keeps shorter school year so as not to impact amusement park industry
the Virginia Senate Education and Health Committee put the interests of the tourism industry ahead of the needs of students by voting to kill three bills that would allow school boards to set their own calendar. The bills would have overturned the so called Kings Dominion Law, named for the amusement park in Doswell, Virginia. The law currently prohibits schools from starting before Labor Day, in an effort to boost late season tourism revenue:
The action by the Senate Education and Health Committee followed testimony from a string of tourism representatives, who said that moving the first day of school before the holiday weekend would hurt the industry at a time when it could ill afford to lose revenue.