GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2025

H                                                                                                                                                    2

HOUSE BILL 121

Committee Substitute Favorable 4/29/25

Short Title:      SchCalFlex/Statewide/Open Cal.	(Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:

February 17, 2025

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT to provide additional flexibility to local boards of education in adopting THE school calendar.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  G.S. 115C‑84.2 reads as rewritten:

"§ 115C‑84.2.  School calendar.

…

(a2)      Report on School Start and End Dates. – As part of the reporting requirements under the Uniform Education Reporting System pursuant to G.S. 115C‑12(18), annually by April 1 each local board of education shall report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education on the start and end dates of the instructional calendar for students for the next academic year. The local board of education shall report this information for each school under the control of that board and shall identify the statutory exception authorizing an earlier start date for all schools that start earlier than the Monday closest to August 26.board.

(a3)      The State Board of Education shall report annually no later than June 15 to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the start and end dates for instructional calendars for the next academic year reported by local boards of education as provided in subsection (a2) of this section. The report shall identify all schools that start earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 and the statutory exception for the earlier start date.

(b)        Limitations. – The following limitations apply when developing the school calendar:

(1)        The total number of teacher workdays for teachers employed for a 10‑month term shall not exceed 195 days.

(2)        The calendar shall include at least 42 consecutive days when teacher attendance is not required unless: (i) the school is a year‑round school; or (ii) the teacher is employed for a term in excess of 10 months. At the request of the local board of education or of the principal of a school, a teacher may elect to work on one of the 42 days when teacher attendance is not required in lieu of another scheduled workday.

(3)        School shall not be held on Sundays.

(4)        Veterans Day shall be a holiday for all public school personnel and for all students enrolled in the public schools. The month of November shall be designated "Veterans' History Awareness Month."

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(d)       Opening and Closing Dates. – Local boards of education shall determine the dates of opening and closing the public schools schools, including year‑round schools, under subdivision (a)(1) of this section. Except for year‑round schools, the opening date for students shall be no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26, and the closing date for students shall be no later than the Friday closest to June 11. On a showing of good cause, the State Board of Education may waive the requirement that the opening date for students be no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 and may allow the local board of education to set an opening date no earlier than the Monday closest to August 19, to the extent that school calendars are able to provide sufficient days to accommodate anticipated makeup days due to school closings. 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. For purposes of this subsection, the term "good cause" means that schools in any local school administrative unit in a county have been closed eight days per year during any four of the last 10 years because of severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations.

The required opening and closing dates under this subsection shall not apply to any school that a local board designated as having a modified calendar for the 2003‑2004 school year or to any school that was part of a planned program in the 2003‑2004 school year for a system of modified calendar schools, so long as the school operates under a modified calendar.

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SECTION 1.(b)  G.S. 115C‑84.3(b) reads as rewritten:

"(b)      A public school unit in a county with a local school administrative unit that has received a good cause waiver, as provided in G.S. 115C‑84.2(d), for the school year been closed eight days per year during any four of the last 10 years because of severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations may use up to 15 remote instruction days or 90 remote instruction hours when schools are unable to open due to severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations and may use that time towards the required instructional days or hours for the school calendar. All other public school units may use up to five remote instruction days or 30 remote instruction hours when schools are unable to open due to severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations and may use that time towards the required instructional days or hours for the school calendar."

SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2025‑2026 school year.