Administrators presented the proposal Thursday to the school board as part of a plan to spend $994 million on facilities through 2010 -- the first time this year administrators have gotten the building plan under $1 billion. That would mean a lower amount for a bond referendum in November.

But it would mean lopping off a chunk of summer vacation for more than 100,000 of Wake's 120,504 students and creating potential scheduling complications for parents with more than one child. All students would start the school year in July.

Fifty-nine nonmagnet elementary schools would be converted to a multitrack, year-round calendar, which can handle more students.

The other 14 elementary schools, as well as all 18 high schools and 24 middle schools that aren't currently on a multitrack schedule, would be converted to a new single-track, year-round calendar. Single-track schools don't house more students but would provide more common days off for families with younger students in multitrack schools.

"I'm not happy with what I'm talking about today," said Don Haydon, associate superintendent for auxiliary services, who helped come up with the plan. "None of us are, but it is a smaller price tag."

Under the plan, the traditional calendar would die in Wake, making it unique among large districts nationwide. All of the calendar changes would begin in 2007.

The breadth of the plan caught school board members by surprise even though district leaders have talked about a year-round switch for more than a decade.

"I didn't expect to see this," said Carol Parker, vice chairwoman of the school board. "We'll see if this is what the public wants."

Chuck Dulaney, assistant superintendent for growth and planning, said the proposal had to be made -- not as a ploy to generate political support for more money but to keep up with growth and to avoid further conflict between parents of children in traditional schools and those whose children attend year-rounds.

"Not converting the schools won't solve our problems. It will create a system of haves and have-nots," Dulaney said.

The school board is scheduled to vote on the plan May 16 before sending it to the county commissioners, who will decide whether to put a bond issue on the ballot.

The year-round proposal runs counter to a state law that went into effect last summer, requiring school districts to start no earlier than Aug. 25. It was pushed by the tourism industry and parents. But the law exempts year-round schools.

Diane Poag, an owner of Capt. Bill's Waterfront Restaurant in Morehead City, said a calendar change could hurt her, since Wake is the state's second-largest school system.

"It will have an impact on us all along the North Carolina coast," said Poag.

Louise Lee, a North Raleigh mother and president of Save Our Summers, a group that pushed for the calendar law, said Wake school leaders need to consider the experience of other communities with year-round schools.

"The facts alone should convince leaders that this is not a good route to take," Lee said.

Year-round schools, she said, haven't proved to provide an academic benefit and can be more costly than traditional schools because of maintenance and utilities. Year-round schedules also can make it tougher to attract and retain teachers, she said, and can disrupt families.

By Thursday, a Web petition from Lee circulating for three days had been signed by about 450 parents objecting to the plan.

The reaction from other parents was mixed.

"I think they'll have a lot of push-back," said Sharon Greeson, who has children at Apex Elementary and Apex High schools. "There will be a lot of issues for people around scheduling. Vacations will become a nightmare."

Still, Greeson said she sees benefits from a year-round calendar and tried previously to get her oldest child into a school following that schedule. She liked the idea of a shorter summer, more consistent education throughout the year and off-season vacations.

Her children would be on the same calendar -- one in middle and one in high school.

"As long as middle and high schools are on the same schedule, it wouldn't affect me," Greeson said. "I realize the school board has to do something, and financially, this makes the most sense."

The district could avoid converting schools, Dulaney said, by putting $150 million more into the plan to build as many as seven more multitrack, year-round schools. He added that, for at least a few years, year-round conversion would reduce the need to reassign students between existing elementary schools.

That's why Linda Davison, who has a first- and third-grader at Brassfield Elementary in North Raleigh, said she supports the shift. "I'm all for year-round if it means my child can stay at Brassfield," Davison said.

Even having her children on two different schedules once her oldest reaches middle school, she said, would be worth the inconvenience in exchange for stability.

The school district has been under pressure to cut costs since a poll released last month by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce showed weak voter support for a bond issue. None of three proposed options, which would spend between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion, got majority support in the poll.

Commissioners Joe Bryan and Herb Council, the swing votes on the board, said they're pleased that administrators cut the plan to less than $1 billion. They said they'd be willing to support putting that amount on the ballot.

To keep costs down, school leaders deferred major renovations at nine schools and the construction of six schools that would have significantly reduced the need for mobile classrooms,

"The proposal manages growth, but it doesn't make things better," Dulaney said.

(Staff writer Ryan Teague Beckwith contributed to this report.)