RALEIGH—Bills seeking to allow local school boards to alter the opening and closing dates of their K-12 public school districts have flooded the General Assembly during its short session.
So far, 27 such bills have been filed: 22 in the House and five in the Senate. The majority of the bills apply to individual school districts; however, Senate Bill 103 and House Bill 121 would apply to all school districts across the state.
The bills in both chambers cover approximately 30 districts. Three districts — Chatham, Cumberland and Wake counties — have bills filed in both chambers.
During the 2023 legislative session, 11 such bills were filed.
The state’s current calendar law says schools can open “no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26” and end classes no later than “the Friday closest to June 11.” Per the calendar law, there is a minimum requirement of 185 days or 1,025 instruction hours.
Certain schools are exempt from the law, including charter schools, lab schools, regional schools and renewal school districts. Year-round schools, restart schools and cooperative innovative high schools are also exempt.
Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) has long said he doesn’t think altering the state’s K-12 calendar law is necessary.
“I don’t think there’s a need to change it,” Berger said in 2023. “If I thought there was a chance that changing it would improve outcomes as far as kids are concerned, as far as school is concerned, I would certainly consider that.”
During the 2022-23 school year — multiple districts, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell-Statesville, Lee, Rutherford and Union — voiced issues with the calendar law.
That same school year, school districts in Cleveland, Gaston and Rutherford counties defied the law, starting school in mid-August. Union County also tried to alter its opening and closing dates but reversed that decision following the threat of legal action by parents in the district.
In June 2023, a report review by the state Board of Education showed multiple school boards disregarded the calendar law in 2022, voting to alter their start dates. Those districts included Cleveland, Gaston, Lee, Rutherford, Stanly, Surry and Yadkin.
The report noted that other districts, including Pitt, Kannapolis City Schools, Cabarrus, Iredell-Statesville, Lincoln, Mount Airy and Polk, opted for start dates other than 2022’s Aug. 28 start date.
The state’s travel and tourism industry has backed keeping the calendar law the same year after year, citing the increases in tourism revenues since it was first enacted.
In addition to bills seeking to allow districts to set their own operating dates, four bills have been filed to change the races for specific school boards from nonpartisan to partisan in Gaston, Columbus, Jackson and Pitt counties.
Currently, 56 of the state’s 115 school districts hold partisan school board races. If the four House bills pass and are enacted, the number would rise to 60, more than half the state’s districts. In 2013, 10 school boards held partisan board seat elections.
In 2024, 46% of school boards that held races that November were partisan. Republicans picked up control of seven boards, raising the tally to 38 Republican-majority boards. Democrats did not pick up control of any new boards but kept control over six they held heading into the November election: Anson, Guilford, Lenoir, Madison, Vance and Washington.
