Does starting school before labor day affect high school retention and graduation: evidence from Virginia's kings dominion law

Several states have required K-12 public schools to start after Labour Day in an effort to aid the tourism and hospitality industry. However, little is known about how these policies impact educational outcomes. We examine the impact of Virginia's post-Labour Day school start law on high school...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied economics letters Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 520 - 525
Main Authors Komarek, Tim, Walker, Jay K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 30.03.2022
Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects
age effects
codes: I20
Dropping out
Economic analysis
Economic theory
Economics
Graduation rate
graduation rates
Graduations & commencements
Hospitality industry
I21
J29
Kings
Labour Day School Start
Public schools
Retention
retention rates
School dropouts
Secondary schools
Tourism
United States > US
Virginia
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Summary:Several states have required K-12 public schools to start after Labour Day in an effort to aid the tourism and hospitality industry. However, little is known about how these policies impact educational outcomes. We examine the impact of Virginia's post-Labour Day school start law on high school retention and graduation rates. We use a difference-in-differences model to exploit exogenous variation in school division start dates. Our results show small differences of up to three weeks have little effect on high school dropout and graduation rates. Our findings inform the debate on post-Labour Day school start laws and compulsory attendance age cut-off laws.
ISSN:1350-4851
1466-4291
DOI:10.1080/13504851.2021.1875112