By Rosalind S. Helderman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 11, 2006

RICHMOND, April 10 -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) has signed two bills designed to help parents and students shoulder back-to-school costs.

Starting in August, Virginians will enjoy a new three-day sales tax holiday on school supplies and clothing. The bill Kaine signed Monday will lift the state's 5 percent tax on such items for a long weekend each August.

Kaine signed the other bill last week, requiring public colleges to establish guidelines to keep down the cost of college textbooks.

He had until midnight Monday to sign, amend or veto hundreds of bills passed by the General Assembly during its 60-day legislative session. The two bills on school costs were among dozens that Kaine dealt with on his last day for action. The General Assembly, which adjourned March 11 without a budget because lawmakers could not agree on transportation spending, will gather April 19 in Richmond to consider Kaine's vetoes and amendments.

The sales tax holiday will occur on the first Friday/Saturday/Sunday in August. Consumers will not have to pay taxes on school supplies that cost $20 or less an item and on clothing and shoes that cost $100 or less an item. For that weekend, businesses also can choose to pay the tax on other items for their customers and advertise those items as tax-free, a practice normally illegal.

Businesses had pushed for the tax break for years, arguing that Virginia retailers lose customers to North Carolina, Maryland and the District, where annual tax holidays result in a burst of cross-state advertising.

"The back-to-school sales tax holiday is relatively modest in its fiscal impact, but it will make a huge difference for working families with school-age children," Kaine said.

Maryland runs a sales tax holiday Aug. 23 to 27, and the District lifts taxes for 10 days in both August and November.

Sen. Ryan T. McDougle (R-Hanover), the bill's Senate sponsor, said he believes the state actually will make money during the holiday because customers will respond to holiday ads and end up purchasing taxed items as well.

"This will draw people from other states to purchase goods in Virginia," he said. "It's good for families and parents and good for business."

The textbook bill requires public colleges to come up with guidelines that will urge professors to limit their use of new editions of books when they differ little from previous editions. Professors also will have to acknowledge that they are aware of the cost of the books they assign.

The new guidelines should be in place in time for the fall semester, said Kelly Porell, executive director of Virginia21, an advocacy group for 18- to 24-year-olds. The group pushed for the measure, which drew opposition from textbook manufacturers.

In a state survey of 12,000 college students last year, the students said they struggled with book prices. College students spend an average of $300 to $400 each semester on textbooks.

"Having this bill pass through the General Assembly and be signed by the governor is a sign student voices were heard, and they are continuing to be a rising force in Virginia state government," Porell said.

Kaine also signed a bill consolidating the state's two residential schools for deaf and blind students on one newly renovated campus in Staunton, ending a decades-long struggle over the future of the two schools.

Staunton has been the home of a school for the deaf and blind since 1838. The school at first allowed only white children; a second school was founded for black students in Hampton in 1909.

Even after the schools were integrated, however, enrollment dropped at both as local school districts began to offer better services for disabled students. Only a handful of Northern Virginian children are among the 190 students who now attend the two schools, which together cost the state $15 million a year.

Still, both schools have had strong community support, and efforts to close one or the other always have unraveled, complicated in part by the schools' history of racial segregation. With the new bill, the residential program in Hampton will be closed and replaced with a day program for local students.