Charlotte-area school districts are ignoring NC calendar law. Will there be consequences?
Most public school districts near Charlotte plan to ignore the state’s calendar law for the 2023-24 year.
The Gaston County school board voted last week to join Cabarrus County, Stanly, Lincoln, Iredell-Statesville and Kannapolis districts to start school well before what North Carolina’s calendar law allows. Cleveland County Schools started early this year, and one of the calendar options for 2023-24 is an early start, potentially making six Charlotte-area districts with plans to ignore the state’s law.
It’s unclear if any of the districts, believing they should decide their own calendars rather than the state, will face consequences. But N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican from Rockingham County, signaled last week he wants to see enforcement of the law for districts who defy it.
Bill Howell, Iredell-Statesville school board chair, told The Charlotte Observer his board chose to start early because “student welfare was more important.”
“It was a tough decision for our board members,” Howell said of the 4-3 vote that took place in December. “I might say this is not over yet. There are rumors of the state Senate putting fines on our system.”
Union County Public Schools, the sixth-largest district by student population in the state, attempted to go with an academic calendar with the first day of school falling on Aug. 9, the same date as many of the districts ignoring the law.
But in January, a pair of Union County parents filed a lawsuit against the board to stop the school system from enforcing that version of the 2023-24 calendar, and a few weeks later, the Union County school board voted 6-3 to switch it to a calendar that falls in line with N.C. regulations.
“This board voted for a calendar that would allow our students and staff to take a clean break at the two-week Christmas break,” Union County board member Gary Sides said during the meeting in late January. “This is another example of public education getting hosed by the special interests and politicians in this state.”
School systems say law doesn’t benefit students
North Carolina’s calendar law, approved in 2004 with the backing of the tourism industry, requires most districts to wait until the Monday closest to Aug. 26 to bring students back and end no later than the Friday closest to June 11. Even if a waiver is approved by the state, the start date can’t be earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 19, according to state law.
The Mooresville Graded School District has exempt status and will start the 2023-24 school year early. Rowan-Salisbury Schools will start early because it’s the only system with renewal status, which means it has calendar flexibility, school board chair Dean Hunter says.
“We have started early each of the last several years,” he said.
Todd Silberman, a public information specialist with the North Carolina Department of Instruction, told the Observer some districts have weather-related waivers for 2023-24, but those 10 districts are in the western part of the state.
School officials’ biggest reason for violating the calendar law: it causes fall semester to end after winter break and doesn’t line up with the calendar used at community colleges, which is important especially for students dual enrolled.
Sides voted to violate the law so Union County students and staff would be able to “take a clean break at the two-week Christmas break,” he said.
CMS takes a different approach
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board agrees districts should have calendar flexibility, but it’s taking a different approach. CMS’ board members approved a legislative agenda in January that requests calendar flexibility for all schools in North Carolina.
CMS board chair Elyse Dashew last week tweeted a “thank you” to state representative Tricia Cotham for amending House Bill 106 to include CMS in calendar flexibility.
The bill was one of several that were approved by the House last week that would let schools start sooner than late August. The bills are expected to die in the Senate though.
CMS and Anson County Schools will follow the state’s calendar law for 2023-24, and start school Aug. 28. Catawba County Schools hasn’t decided on a 2023-24 calendar. This school year, the district started Aug. 29. They also have a disclaimer at the bottom of the calendar on the website: “ All calendars are subject to revision if NC Calendar legislation changes.”
Republican leaders disagree
House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican from Cleveland County, wants to let school districts decide their own calendars. He is not in favor of punishing districts that disobey the calendar law.
“At the end of the day, it seems to me, (it’s) to give the local communities that flexibility for what works best for them,” Moore told the News and Observer. “So the communities at the beach, where maybe it doesn’t work for them, fine. Let them start (in late August) and give them the flexibility they want. But for those of us in other parts of state where we see a need, let the folks start (earlier).”
Randy Brechbiel, a spokesman for Sen. Berger, told the Observer last week any local school board that breaks the calendar law — or is considering doing so — needs to think about the message it sends students.
“Should students be taught to break laws they disagree with? Most parents would say no,” Brechbiel said. “Further, school boards should take into account the possibility of a legal challenge from parents.”
Howell says the Iredell-Statesville board is waiting to see how things play out, and is aware that Berger is “very unhappy with the systems who decided to start early,” Howell said.
He added that he’s not sure whether a majority of the board will vote to go back into compliance if there are fines or other consequences.
News & Observer Capitol Bureau Chief Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 3:08 PM.
