A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS SHALL OPEN AFTER LABOR DAY EXCEPT IN UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES OR YEAR‑ROUND SCHOOLS, IN ORDER TO PROMOTE FAMILY UNITY AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN NORTH CAROLINA.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑84.2(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	Opening and Closing Dates. – Local boards of education shall determine the dates of opening and closing the public schools under subdivision (a)(1) of this section. Except for year-round schools, each local school board shall set the school calendar so that the first day students are required to attend school is after Labor Day. The State Board of Education may waive this requirement on a showing of good cause. For purposes of this subsection, "good cause" means that schools in that local administrative unit have been closed an average of eight days per year during any five of the last 10 years because of severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations.
A local board may revise the scheduled closing date if necessary in order to comply with the minimum requirements for instructional days or instructional time. Different opening and closing dates may be fixed for schools in the same administrative unit.
Local boards and individual schools shall give teachers at least 14 calendar days' notice before requiring a teacher to work instead of taking vacation leave on days scheduled in accordance with subdivision (4) or (5) of subsection (a) of this section. A teacher may elect to waive this notice requirement for one or more such days."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective beginning with the 2004‑2005 school year.