NC school districts keep defying an antiquated law. Now, one is getting sued | Opinion

Tired of an antiquated law that dictates when the school calendar must start, several North Carolina school districts have simply decided not to follow it.

The largest of them, Union County, was sued this week by a pair of parents who are unhappy with the school board’s decision to begin the 2023-24 school year early.

Under state law, school districts cannot start school earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end no later than the Friday closest to June 11. That law was passed by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2004 to appease the tourism industry and some parents who were concerned that too early of a start date could cut into summer vacation time.

Three districts — in Gaston, Cleveland and Rutherford counties — started school early this year and do not appear to have received any penalty from the state for doing so. The lack of sanction has spurred districts like Union County to make plans to do the same.

North Carolina’s calendar law has long been unpopular with school districts, and for good reason. A late-August start forces high school students who take semester-long classes to take finals after winter break, and it can also create scheduling conflicts for those who wish to take community college courses.

This year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools had its first day on Aug. 29, which the school board noted was “not by our choice.” Despite heavy speculation that CMS might start the 2023-24 school year early, the district stuck with an Aug. 28 start date in 2023.

As is often the case in North Carolina, the dispute boils down to local control. The law strips the state’s 120 school districts of the ability to make decisions that best meet the needs of their students and communities. But the tourism industry lobbies hard against changing the law due to concerns about the economic impact of shortening summer break — and some legislators who represent North Carolina’s mountains and beaches have historically backed the existing law as well.

Still, every year, a flurry of bills calling for calendar flexibility are introduced in the General Assembly by Democrats and Republicans alike. The House has tried to change the calendar law in past years, but its attempts have never made it through the Senate.

A spokesperson for Speaker Tim Moore said he has traditionally supported school calendar flexibility legislation in the House. Moore’s home county, Cleveland County, was one of the districts to skirt the law this year. Meanwhile, Senate leader Phil Berger’s office told the Editorial Board that Berger “believes the current school calendar law is good policy and does not need to be changed.”

“It is my belief that schools have failed to provide students in schools with an appropriate example by open defiance of a law,” Berger told a local TV station during a visit to Charlotte this week. “I mean, they acknowledge that the law exists and they’re going to do what they want to anyway.”

Of course, the state’s tendency to look the other way has only emboldened such behavior. The calendar law does not include a penalty or other enforcement mechanism, and the State Board of Education does not have a written policy for what to do if a district does not comply with calendar laws, The Charlotte Observer reported.

While that may have lulled school boards into a sense of false security, the Union County lawsuit shows there can still be legal consequences. And it may not just be the headache of a lawsuit — the complaint notes that the school board’s willful violation of the law could constitute a criminal misdemeanor, which may be punishable by removal from office.

Everyone has a responsibility to follow the law, even when they don’t like it. But school districts have a point. They — not the tourism industry, and not the state legislature — know what’s best for their students, and they should have the power to make those decisions.

This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 2:01 PM with the headline "NC school districts keep defying an antiquated law. Now, one is getting sued | Opinion."