Four days after Del. Jim LeMunyon introduced his bill to allow school districts to decide whether they wanted to open school a week before Labor Day, Fairfax County Public Schools put forth a survey asking parents their opinion on the same topic.

The online survey, posted Jan. 14, inquires whether parents support schools opening prior to Labor Day, which is currently not allowed by Virginia law. The survey deadline is Jan. 24.

FCPS is considering seeking a waiver for the 2012-2013 school year, according to the survey.

If passed, LeMunyon's legislation would put the power to decide when school starts in the hands of the local school boards, and limits the start date to no earlier than the fourth Monday of August.

"It makes better use of the money we spend on education, because we could more closely align the [Standards of Learning] test dates the kids have with the last day of school," said LeMunyon (R-67th District). "That way they have more time to prepare and do well on those tests."

LeMunyon said he met with 15 school principals within the last year, and every one of them told him they supported an earlier start date, he said.

Informally known as the Kings Dominion law, the current law benefits theme park and other tourist areas, allowing students the time to work and families the time to visit the attractions for one more week and through a holiday weekend.

"Indeed, there are many attractions here in the commonwealth who rely on the ability of attracting people to their places right up to and including Labor Day weekend," said Barry Biggar, president and CEO of Visit Fairfax, a nonprofit destination marketing organization committed to promoting Fairfax County as a tourist destination. "In Fairfax County, in particular, the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum, as well as Mount Vernon, rely on summer business through Labor Day."

Biggar said his organization has not taken a stance on the legislation because he has not seen numbers from the local tourist destinations, such as visitation numbers, to determine what the local tourism industry has to lose if the date is changed, he said.

John Banbury, principal of Oakton High, spoke in favor of an earlier start date to LeMunyon last summer.

"I grew up in Las Vegas. You don't get more touristy than that, and we started school in the middle of August," Banbury said. "If Las Vegas can do it, we can, too."

Banbury does not see the tourism industry's bottom line as a reason for public school children to miss out on more instructional time.

"What do we really deem as most important in the state of Virginia, the education of our future leaders or Kings Dominion's business?" Banbury said. "I just think our priorities aren't in the right place."

LeMunyon agreed.

"I would never imagine, being in business myself, that I would ever want to see state law constructed in a way that, to be blunt, manipulates the lives of a million schoolchildren in this state in order to do my business," LeMunyon said.

Banbury advocates for an even earlier start date than LeMunyon is proposing in his legislation, but said he understands the logistics of making a drastic change like that might be too much at one time.

"Like I told LeMunyon last summer, I'm not trying to be greedy. Just give me something," he said. "One week would be a great start."

Moving SOL testing to later in the year would not solve the problem because of federal deadlines for submitting the test results, LeMunyon said. Moving the SOL test date would not solve the problem of Advanced Placement students being at a disadvantage going into their exams, Banbury said. Each subject's AP exam is set for one date across the country.

"We are basing education on arbitrary dates that work well for people administratively, instead of kids learning," Banbury said. "That's a fundamental problem."