Mecklenburg lawmaker wants to ‘save spring break’ from weather emergencies for CMS

State Sen. Natasha Marcus wants to save spring break for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students.

The Mecklenburg County Democrat introduced a bill Thursday that would allow CMS to use remote learning days when in-person schools have to close due to snow, hurricanes and other emergencies. The goal is to avoid cutting spring break short.

Senate Bill 242, also called the “Save Spring Break Act,” would let CMS use remote learning beyond the end of the current school year in limited scenarios. Currently, school districts cannot use virtual classes to count toward the number of required instructional hours each year except due to the COVID pandemic.

Right now, whenever CMS has used up all its pre-planned make-up days, the district’s only option is to schedule new make-up days during spring break. The bill filed Thursday would allow for remote learning when schools are closed by severe weather only when the pre-planned make-up days are used up.

“The bill I filed today would allow CMS to switch to remote instruction under such circumstances, rather than closing schools, and thereby Save Spring Break,” Marcus said in an email to the Observer.

The bill was one of 10 legislative priorities CMS identified this year. Other legislative requests included funding for summer learning, calendar flexibility for start and stop dates and a provision to protect CMS from losing state funding for enrollment drops as a result of the pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the operation of our schools and exposed significant gaps and inequities in our community and our schools,” CMS leaders wrote in a letter to state representatives. “These requests will help us build equity and operate our schools more efficiently and more equitably, so that all students have an opportunity to learn and grow.”