The General Assembly in 2004 mandated that most public schools start classes no earlier than August 25th and end no later than June 10th, beginning with the 2005-06 school year. Since implementation, this mandate has negatively impacted students, teachers and the learning process in public schools.

Fact Sheet:

Impact on Students:
1. High School Reform- The calendars for high schools, community colleges and universities are out-of-sync by approximately two weeks. This causes scheduling problems for high school students who take courses on higher education campuses to assist with college preparation and/or job-readiness. The issue is most pronounced in the second semester, when college courses begin before high schools complete their final exams in mid-January. It also is hindering the high school reform effort, which depends in large part on the ability of high schools, community colleges and universities to have cooperative arrangements and coordinated calendars.
2. Testing Concerns- High school students on the block schedules must take high-stakes end-of-course exams in January after the winter holiday break. Many students and teachers have complained that this timing is not optimal for ensuring student success. Similarly, the amount of instructional time students have before taking Advanced Placement and International BAccalaureate tests has decreased and has drawn concerns among some of the state's highest achieving students.

Impact on Teachers:
1. Teacher Workday- The calendar law's reduction in five teacher workdays and restrictions on when remaining workdays must occur limits the time teachers have throughout the school year to meet with parents, complete progress reports and offer remediation to struggling students.
2. Professional Development- The reduction in workdays limits the opportunity for schools systems to provide professional development training that helps teachers upgrade their skills and maintain their licensure, thus requiring them to earn most of their renewal credits on their own time and expense. Teachers' availability to enroll in higher education courses also is reduced, since their teaching schedule conflicts with their college course schedule. These limitations are being exacerbated by the "highly qualified" requirements of No Child Left Behind.

State Action Requested:
The 2007 General Assembly should take the following steps to ensure that the school calendar facilitates rather than impedes the delivery of a quality education to students across North Carolina:

1- Restore the ability of local school districts to set the school calendar based on the specific needs of their students and their communities.

2- Realign the public school calendar with the calendars of community colleges and universities to facilitate dual enrollment and enhance educational opportunities for students.(Support House Bills 359 and 473 and Senate Bill 461.)

3- Reinstate the five teacher workdays eliminated by the 2004 school calendar changes, since those days are essential for professional development of school personnel. (Support House Bill 360 and Senate Bill 191.)

Five Bills Seeking Improvements in School Calendar:
H359, Restore Flexibility to the School Calendar – Sponsored by Reps. Larry Bell, D-Sampson, and Marvin Lucas, D-Cumberland, the bill would restore flexibility to the school calendar by allowing school districts to receive a new system-wide waiver for a specific educational purpose, as approved by the State Board of Education. The proposed new waiver would allow an entire school district to align its calendar with that of a community college or university in the geographic area, to adjust the examination schedule to benefit students, or to accommodate Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations, block schedules, inclement weather or other emergency situations.

H360, Add Professional Development Days to School Calendar – Sponsored by Reps. Larry Bell, D-Sampson; Marvin Lucas, D-Cumberland; Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland; and Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg; the bill would add five professional development days for teachers and would repeal the requirement that schools prepay teachers a full month in August, even though most are beginning work now no earlier than Aug. 20th. The proposal to add the five teacher workdays is a recommendation of the House Select Committee on the Education of Students with Disabilities, since that committee determined that additional time is needed in the school calendar for teachers to receive ongoing training, especially for effectively teaching increasing numbers of children with disabilities.

H473/S461, Change School Starting Date – These two identical bills would change the earliest possible starting date for most public schools from Aug. 25 to the second Monday in August. The legislation is sponsored by Reps. Ray Rapp, D-Madison; Bob England, D- Rutherford; Martha Alexander, D-Mecklenburg; and Susan Fisher, D-Buncombe; in the House and by Sens. John Snow, D-Cherokee; and Joe Sam Queen, D-Haywood, in the Senate.

S191, Increase Number of Teacher Workdays – Sponsored by Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, the bill would add five professional development days for teachers.

School Calendar Public Hearing Scheduled for March 28th:
Dear NCASA Members,

The House Education Committee on Tuesday postponed a planned vote on House Bill 359, Restore Flexibility to the School Calendar, after Rep. Bill Daughtridge, R-Nash, who opposes changes to the calendar, called for a full public hearing on this issue. The House Speaker upheld the request for a hearing, which has been set for 4-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 28 in the Legislative Auditorium, second floor of the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

That hearing will be packed with tourism industry representatives and parents from the Save Our Summers group, which pushed for the current school calendar mandate in 2004. NCASA members must turn out in large numbers as well as bringing to the hearing school board members, teachers, students and parents who support efforts to restore flexibility to the school calendar for addressing specific educational concerns.

H359, Restore Flexibility to the School Calendar, sponsored by Reps. Larry Bell, D-Sampson, and Marvin Lucas, D-Cumberland, would restore flexibility to the school calendar by allowing school districts to receive a new system-wide waiver for a specific educational purpose, as approved by the State Board of Education. The proposed new waiver would allow an entire school district to align its calendar with that of a community college or university in the geographic area, to adjust the examination schedule to benefit students, or to accommodate Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate examinations or block schedules.

The committee heard testimony on this issue for its entire meeting Tuesday and heard many compelling arguments for approving H359. Those speaking in favor of the bill included a Pamlico high school student, a Gaston high school student, the North Carolina Teacher of the Year, the North Carolina Superintendent of the Year, a spokesman for the state community college system and a representative of the North Carolina School Boards Association.

Their voices will not be enough to ensure House support of this legislation unless every NCASA member makes it a top priority to participate in the March 28th hearing and to ensure that your House member knows this issue is important to your schools and your students!

Those who would like to participate in the hearing on March 28 should contact Katherine Joyce at 919-828-1426 or kjoyce@ncasa.net no later than March 26 so that a list of speakers in support of the bill can be provided to the chairmen.

NCASA staff and other bill supporters will be in the 1000 Court of the Legislative Building (right-hand side of red stairs) handing out stickers for hearing attendees to wear to show their support for H359. Please stop by there before heading upstairs to the auditorium.

All others are urged to submit written comments on this issue to Rep. Marvin Lucas at the following address: 300 N. Salisbury Street, Room 417A, Raleigh, NC 27603-5925. These written comments will be part of the official public hearing record that the committee will review when it meets again to debate this issue and to vote on it.

In addition, every NCASA member should contact your House member(s) immediately and encourage them to support House Bill 359. House member contact information is at: http://www.ncasa.net/associations/2410/files/2007%20HOUSE.xls.

Thank you for your help on this important issue for public schools.

Sincerely,

Bill McNeal
Executive Director
NC Association of School Administrators

School calendar bill gets House approval, heads to Senate
Katherine Joyce, NCASA Assistant Director

The State House, after two days of debate and votes this week, approved House Bill 359, Restore Flexibility to the School Calendar. The legislation has been sent to the Senate Committee on Education/Public Instruction for further debate, which Senate Leader Marc Basnight has indicated he will not prevent even though he personally opposes changing the school calendar law.

The House votes, which were 74-39 and 77-35, reflect the House’s support for enabling local school districts to be exempted from the state-mandated school start date of Aug. 25, if the district has a valid academic reason for needing an earlier start. The bill would allow districts to ask the State Board of Education for a system-wide waiver from the start date for reasons such as aligning the school district’s calendar with that of a college or university, adjust the examination schedule running a block schedule or allowing extra instructional time before Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams. Currently, a school district may receive a waiver for only one school or program, thereby creating other scheduling problems and costs for the school district and the families it serves.

Many House members this week spoke in favor of restoring local flexibility to the school calendar as called for in H359, co-sponsored by Reps. Larry Bell, D-Sampson, and Marvin Lucas, D-Cumberland, and ultimately helped ensure the legislation’s approval by the House. In addition, lobbyists for the North Carolina Association of School Administrators (NCASA), the North Carolina School Boards Association, the Public School Forum, the North Carolina Principals and Assistant Principals’ Association, the Professional Educators of North Carolina and Union County Schools have worked together for several weeks to initiate this legislation and get it moving forward in the House. NCASA sends a special “thank you” to every member who made House contacts on this legislation, including those who participated in NCASA’s March 29th Legislative Visit Day, when the bill received a favorable vote in the House Education Committee to move on to this week’s floor debate.

Before approving H359, the House adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Lucas, which clarified that the new system-wide waivers must be for academic reasons and to require that all school districts appoint a school calendar committee that includes at least one county commissioner. Two other amendments failed. Those included a proposal by Rep. Bonner Stiller, R-Brunswick, to have the bill not become effective until the 2008-09 school year, and an effort by Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, to expand the list of individuals who would have to be included on the school district calendar committee.

The bill, if approved by the Senate and signed into law, would become effective with the 2007-08 school year. The legislation as amended by the House is available at the following link: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H359v3.html.

To see how your House members voted on this bill, view the following links:

Second-reading (74-39):
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2007&sChamber=H&RCS=128

Third reading (77-35):
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/RollCallVoteTranscript.pl?sSession=2007&sChamber=H&RCS=141

NCASA members and other supporters are to be commended for their hard work on this important legislation, which has passed two major hurdles in the last two weeks. Please note, however, that much work remains to be done before this legislation can become law to provide needed flexibility in the school calendar.

All NCASA members should contact your Senators as quickly as possible and urge them to support the bill and to work to ensure that the Senate schedules a committee debate on it soon! Contact information for all Senators is available at: http://www.ncasa.net/associations/2410/files/2007%20SENATE.xls.