The idea of lengthening the N.C. school year - from 180 to 185 instructional days - had the hallmarks of a "good idea."

More teaching and learning time in school is documented to improve academic performance. The school year is significantly longer in most other countries - especially those where students are kicking our behinds academically.

In Finland, the school year is 190 days. South Korea's year, split into two semesters, spans more than 220 days. Japan's school year is about the same. In China, the school year is probably the longest at about 240 days.

Additionally, the length of the N.C. school year is a relic of its agrarian past when students needed to be out of school to help with crops on farms in the summer.

So the N.C. legislature's move during the last session to change the length of the school year had merit. It was the way they did it that caused problems.

Instead of actually expanding the school year and providing funds for transportation and other costs associated with it, lawmakers simply took away five teacher planning days that were included in school calendars. No extra money was provided to pay for the gasoline for school buses or for personnel who are not normally working those five extra days.

Additionally, lawmakers' hasty decision gave educators inadequate time to plan a curriculum to make appropriate educational use of those extra days. Parents, students and teachers already complain that the last week of school is of little educational value with students watching movies or playing games. This threatened to be a further waste.

As problematic, lawmakers kept their dogmatic allegiance to a misguided 2004 law requiring public schools to start no earlier than Aug. 25 and end no later than June 10. Adding five days to that strait-jacketed schedule put school systems in a bind as they tried to get in holidays, spring and winter breaks, teacher workdays and bad weather emergency days.

So it wasn't surprising that nearly every N.C. district asked for a waiver of the five-day school year expansion this year - and got it. Said Larry Price, executive director of the N.C. Association of School Administrators: "Lengthening the school year between the bookends is difficult."

House Speaker Thom Tillis' answer to this mess is the wrong one. He says the new law should simply be revoked. "My guess is that it will likely come off the books next year. I'd put the odds at 70 percent to 80 percent."

What he and other lawmakers should do is stand up to the business special interests and others who pushed through the restrictions in 2004 on when to start and end the school year. The tourism industry and others wanted more summer vacation for students and families.

Lawmakers should also restore those five teacher workdays that give educators the needed administrative time to plan, update their skills and do other duties that enable them to teach better. Taking those days away was unwise.

Lawmakers must revisit this issue next year. When they do, they should make changes to truly benefit N.C. students.