AN ACT to adjust the school calendar and require a two‑week winter break for lincoln county schools and Iredell‑statesville schools.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑84.2 reads as rewritten:

§ 115C‑84.2.  School calendar.

(a)        School Calendar. – Each local board of education shall adopt a school calendar consisting of 215 days all of which shall fall within the fiscal year. A school calendar shall include the following:

…

(3a)      A winter break starting on any day in the month of December and consisting of 14 consecutive days with no instructional days or teacher workdays scheduled. If a local board of education has had to close schools due to inclement weather for three or more days before the winter break has started, the local board may elect to make up the days the school was closed during the winter break.

…

(d)       Opening and Closing Dates. – Local boards of education shall determine the dates of opening and closing the public schools under subdivision (a)(1) of this section. Except for year‑round schools, the opening date for students shall be no earlier than the Monday Wednesday closest to August 26, 13, and the closing date for students shall be no later than the Friday closest to June 11. 1. On a showing of good cause, the State Board of Education may waive the requirement that the opening date for students be no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 and may allow the local board of education to set an opening date no earlier than the Monday closest to August 19, to the extent that school calendars are able to provide sufficient days to accommodate anticipated makeup days due to school closings. A local board may revise the scheduled closing date if necessary in order to comply with the minimum requirements for instructional days or instructional time. For purposes of this subsection, the term good cause means that schools in any local school administrative unit in a county have been closed eight days per year during any four of the last 10 years because of severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations.

The required opening and closing dates under this subsection shall not apply to any school that a local board designated as having a modified calendar for the 2003‑2004 school year or to any school that was part of a planned program in the 2003‑2004 school year for a system of modified calendar schools, so long as the school operates under a modified calendar.

….

SECTION 2.  This act applies only to Lincoln County Schools and Iredell‑Statesville Schools.

SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2025‑2026 school year.