A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT directing local boards of education to set the first instructional day of the school year after labor day.
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. The first instructional day for schools other than year-round schools shall be 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 and applies to all local school administrative units except for the Wake County Public School System, the Guilford County School System, the Winston‑Salem‑Forsyth County School System, the Randolph County School System, the Asheboro City School System, the Montgomery County School System, the Scotland School System, the Richmond School System, the Anson School System, the Stanly School System, the Wilson School System, the Edgecombe School System, the Bertie School System, the Martin School System, the Washington School System, the Tyrrell School System, the Pitt School System, the Rutherford School System, the Cleveland School System, the Buncombe School System, the Asheville City School System, the Wilkes School System, the Surry School System, and the Union County School System.