Politics

School calendar bill would whack county with stiff financial stick

By North Carolina Tribune, Published: March 27, 2025

For years now, the Senate’s been the place where bills that would give school districts flexibility to start classes in early or mid-August go to die.

Now, Senate leader Phil Berger and a few of his key lieutenants are floating a proposal to give local school boards the option of choosing a mid-August start while also imposing a stiff financial penalty on boards that defy the state-mandated start date.

Senate Bill 754 would offer them the choice of starting on either the Monday closest to Aug. 19 or the Monday closest to Aug. 26.

Current law allows only the Aug. 26 option, and has long been seen as a concession to the state’s tourist industry.

Henderson County's is one of nearly 30 school boards across the state that have flouted state law in adopting school starts. School Board members who support the early August start have said that the earlier date is preferred by students, families and teachers and that it moves fall semester final exams to before the Christmas break and allows seniors who graduate early the ability to enroll in a community college or university in January. The School Board's currently adopted 2025-26 school calendar, which sets a start date of Aug. 11, would be violation of the law if Berger's bill is adopted and would subject the county to significant financial penalty.

Under the bill, the Superintendent of Public Instruction would be required to report and investigate any violations of the law to the State Board of Education. If the local school board is found to be noncompliant, the State Board of Education is required to direct the local board to remedy the violation. If the local board doesn’t address the violation, then its central office funding would be withheld until it becomes compliant. In addition, any person who lives or owns a business within the local school district boundary would be able to bring a civil action against a school board that defies the school calendar law.

There are at least 29 bills pending in the House and seven more in the Senate that would carve out exceptions at the district level.

Berger is a  lead sponsors of SB 754, alongside Sens. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, and Michael Lee, R-New Hanover. Senate Rules chair Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, is a co-sponsor.

“This balances the desire of some school districts to start the school year earlier while still supporting our local businesses dependent on summer tourism,” Berger said in a news release. “We must take the appropriate steps to hold school districts that break the law accountable.”

Galey’s county is seeking calendar flexibility via a House bill. Lee, meanwhile, represents a coastal county that’s partially reliant on tourism.

“Finding compromises like this isn’t always easy, but this bill is the culmination of good-faith efforts from stakeholders and legislators,” Galey said. “With the evolution of the school choice landscape, as well as North Carolina becoming the fifth-most popular state for travel and tourism, it’s time to update and adapt our school calendar law.”

“While our current school calendar law provides adequate flexibility for the vast majority of our districts, it’s appropriate to provide districts another option,” Lee added.