WTVR.com Staff

12:00 p.m. EST, January 26, 2012

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Virginia Delegate Joe Morrissey (D - Henrico County) introduced a bill to the 2012 Virginia General Assembly that would do away with Virginia's so-called "Kings Dominion law."

Morrissey's bill, HB 113, would give local school boards the power to set local school calendars, including when to begin school for the year. School districts can currently apply for a waiver to start the school year before Labor Day.

The Kings Dominion law has required Virginia schools to start after Labor Day weekend. That requirement, put in place in the 1980s, was designed to help Virginia businesses and tourist attractions.

"Who is going to make the decisions," Del. Morrissey asked at a Thursday morning press conference. "I suggest that it not be Tweety bird or Bugs Bunny or Scooby Doo or Sponge Bob that makes those decisions. They ought not to be making education decisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia."

In addition to theme park characters, school leaders from around Central Virginia joined Del. Morrissey as he talked about his bill.

"When his Excellency, Governor McDonnell, was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, he said in his inaugural address to the people of the Commonwealth, ‘the Founders recognized that the government closest to the people governs best. More often than not, Richmond knows better about the hopes and dreams of the people than Washington. And Galax and Fairfax and Virginia Beach know far better than Richmond’,” Morrissey wrote in a statement. “This bill does exactly that – it gives power to localities so that they can govern in the best interest of their students and their citizens.”

The bill is scheduled to go up for debate Thursday afternoon at the General Assembly.

In the Senate Thursday, a committee voted 9-6 to pass on an identical bill introduced by Senator David Marsden (D- Fairfax County), SB 457.  The vote shelves the bill indefinitely.