Kindergarten students must be 5 years old by September 30 to enroll. However, several districts let parents send students whose birthdays fall within a month or two after that cutoff. The exact date varies with the district, and in some districts parents must pay tuition to enroll a younger child. Kindergarten is not mandatory in Virginia, although we're hard-pressed to think of any parents who don't send their children to kindergarten. Public schools throughout the region tend to draw students from nearby neighborhoods.
Bus service is provided for students living too far to walk to school.
All public schools offer a wide range of academics, sports and extracurricular activities. Programs are provided for gifted and talented students and those with special educational needs. In the region, there are strong links with the business and military communities. Some organizations adopt entire schools and channel a lot of energy into improving them. Others occasionally provide lecturers and tutors.