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Bill Summary · HB 190

HB 190 — School Calendar Mandatory Winter Break / Date Adjustment (NC)

Status
- Introduced: February 24–26, 2025
- Current status: Passed first reading (Feb. 26, 2025); referred to Education - K‑12.
- Applies beginning with the 2025–2026 school year if enacted.
- Statutory changes amend G.S. 115C‑84.2 (school calendar).

Purpose / Intent
- Require a mandated two‑week winter break (no instructional days or teacher workdays) in December and refine opening/closing date language for public school calendars — but only for two specified local school administrative units: Lincoln County Schools and Iredell‑Statesville Schools.

Key provisions
- Winter break requirement
- Each affected local board must include a winter break that:
- Starts on any day in December the board selects; and
- Consists of 14 consecutive days with no instructional days or teacher workdays scheduled.
- Inclement weather makeup option: if a local board has closed schools for three or more days due to inclement weather before the winter break begins, the board may elect to use days within the winter break to make up those closures.

  • School calendar framework
    • Reaffirms that local boards must adopt a calendar of 215 days (all within the fiscal year) and retain other calendar requirements under G.S. 115C‑84.2 (e.g., minimum instructional days).
    • Revises/clarifies opening and closing date provisions: except for year‑round schools, opening and closing dates are constrained to a mid‑to‑late August start window and a mid‑June closing window; the State Board may waive the opening date for good cause (e.g., repeated severe weather/emergencies) to allow an earlier opening within defined limits. (The statute continues to exempt schools operating under a modified calendar.)

Who is affected
- Directly: Lincoln County Schools and Iredell‑Statesville Schools (local boards, students, teachers, staff).
- Indirectly: families (childcare planning), transportation providers, extracurricular programs, and organizations that coordinate events, testing windows,/facilities with school calendars.
- Year‑round schools are excluded from the opening/closing date constraints per existing statute.

Procedural / timeline notes
- The act is written to take effect upon becoming law and explicitly applies starting with the 2025–2026 school year.
- Under the bill, local boards retain authority to set calendars consistent with the statutory constraints and the new winter break requirement.

Potential impacts and considerations
- Scheduling: districts must adjust calendars (start/end dates, teacher workdays, testing windows, athletics, meal and transportation schedules) to accommodate a fixed 14‑day December break.
- Operations and costs: potential minor administrative and operational adjustments (substitute coverage scheduling, extracurricular calendars, contracted services, and childcare needs). The bill includes an inclement‑weather flexibility mechanism that can reduce pressure to add makeup days after the school year.
- Local control: while the requirement applies only to two named districts, local boards still choose the exact December start date for the two‑week break (subject to statutory limits).

Notes
- The bill is geographically limited to the two named school districts; it does not create a statewide mandate.
- No fiscal note is included in the bill text; district‑level operational impacts are likely modest but will depend on each district’s existing calendar and contractual obligations.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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