Johnston Co. to start school in early August. Why they say they’re not breaking NC law.
One of North Carolina’s largest school systems has decided to apparently violate the state’s school calendar law by starting classes in early August.
In a 4-3 vote Tuesday, the Johnston County school board approved calendars for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years that begin classes three weeks earlier than the calendar law allows..
The school district is citing an exemption for schools that use a “modified calendar,” which is a hybrid of a traditional calendar and a year-round calendar.
“Please note that the Board voted on what has been identified as a ‘Modified Calendar,’” Richard Carr, a district spokesperson, said in an email Wednesday to The News & Observer. “This calendar in particular does not go against ‘state school calendar law’; it is the only calendar option approved by the General Assembly to begin before August 26.”
But state law says the exemption only applies to schools that were using a modified calendar during the 2003-04 school year. Next year will be the first time Johnston County has used it.
Johnston County is North Carolina’s seventh-largest school district. It has more than 36,000 students.
On Friday, the school board announced it will hold a special meeting Monday morning to discuss the newly adopted calendars. The board unanimously voted at the special meeting to rescind the adoption of the modified calendar.
Modified calendar only allowed in Wake
The school board’s vote is the latest chapter in the ongoing fight over the calendar law.
State lawmakers have regulated school calendars for 20 years, since the tourism industry objected to classes starting earlier in August.
The state’s traditional public schools can’t open sooner than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 or close later than the Friday closest to June 11. The calendar law doesn’t apply to private schools, charter schools, year-round schools, early college high schools and some low-performing schools.
When the calendar law was adopted in 2004, an exemption was carved out for the handful of schools in Wake County that were the only ones in the state using the modified calendar..
“The modified calendar approved in 2004 has 9 weeks of instruction followed by a 2 week break,” according to guidance from the state Department of Public Instruction. “The only LEA (local education agency) that is approved to have this calendar is Wake County Public Schools.”
Wake school leaders have said the calendar law prevents them from adding new modified calendar schools unless they qualify for a state program that allows calendar flexibility for some low-performing schools.
NC schools defy calendar law
School districts have argued an earlier August start date would help high school students finish fall semester exams before winter break and align with community college schedules.
The state House has passed multiple bills to provide school calendar flexibility, but all the bills have died in the Senate.
The failure to modify the calendar law has led a growing number of school districts to defy the legislation.
A DPI report released this year showed 29 of the state’s 115 school districts planned to defy the law this school year.
There’s no state mechanism for enforcing the calendar law. But lawsuits filed by business owners resulted in the Union County school board in 2023 and the Carteret County school board this year dropping plans to start early.
Aug. 4 start date next year
Johnston County had tried a compromise this school year by using a “condensed” calendar that obeys the calendar law. The fall semester has significantly fewer school days than the spring semester so high school students can take their final exams before winter break.
This year, the school board asked staff to survey the community and schools about three options: traditional calendar, modified calendar and condensed calendar.
Under the newly adopted modified calendar, students will start the 2025-26 school year on Aug. 4 and end May 22. There will be a two-week fall break from Oct. 6-17.
For the 2026-27 school year, students will start Aug. 3 and end May 27. The fall break will be from Oct. 5-16.
School leaders repeatedly said Tuesday that it should not be called a year-round calendar.
School board members said their options were limited in how they could find a calendar that meets students’ needs.
“What’s unfortunate is the General Assembly will not give us calendar flexibility and then we would have the option to do some other things,” school board chair Lyn Andrews said before the vote. “But we don’t, and that’s just where we are and that’s what we’re dealing with right now.”
Calendar approved in split vote
Andrews, Kay Carroll, Kevin Donovan and Mike Wooten voted for the modified calendar. Michelle Antoine, Ronald Johnson and board vice chair Terry Tippett voted no.
Tippett raised concerns Tuesday he had heard in the community such as whether the new calendar would prevent district employees and students from getting summer jobs.
District administrators said they’ll let camps know about the October break so families can find child-care options.
Administrators said the calendar shouldn’t hurt athletics. But high schools will need to find a way to give athletesaccess to campus and events during the October break.
An online petition to keep the traditional calendar had drawn more than 300 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
Before the vote, Tippett got his colleagues’s assurance they could revisit the calendar decision next year even though they’re adopting the next two years worth of calendars.
“Whatever option we want to do, we want to look at test scores and see if there’s a difference in anything along the way,” Tippett said.
This story was originally published November 14, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
