NORTH CAROLINA, USA — There's a bill in the state legislature that would significantly impact when some kids go back to school this fall.
It would allow several districts, five of them in our area to start as early as August 10.
WFMY News 2's Itinease Mcmiller has a closer look at the bill and reaction.
House bill 51 only includes seven school districts statewide. Bigger districts like Guilford and Winston-Salem Forsyth aren't included.
Tuesday night, Guilford County's superintendent Dr. Whitney Oakley cited state law and tourism for not considering an earlier start date.
Lawmakers and school leaders say they should control their own calendar, not the state.
By law, every school district in the state must start no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26.
A group of bipartisan state lawmakers have proposed a bill that would significantly change that for seven school districts.
Five of them are in our area - Randolph and Surry County, along with city schools in Asheboro, Mount Airy, and Elkin.
The bill would allow the districts to begin as early as Aug. 10.
Administrators from Asheboro and Mt. Airy have similar reasons for wanting the change.
"It will allow us to provide final exams for our high school students prior to Christmas break," said Carla Freemyer, the executive director of human resources at Asheboro City Schools.
"The exams and transitions of the semester are off by three weeks right now causing issues with students who are taking community college and high school classes at the same time," Phillip Brown, the deputy superintendent at Mt. Airy City Schools, added.
Alamance County Representative Stephen Ross, a republican, is one of many who sponsored the bill.
"I've filed bills for years here in Raleigh to give our local system control over the calendar. There's always a lot of pushback from the tourism industry," Ross said.
Some of that pushback has come from a group called 'Save Our Summers NC'.
Its website claims 70 to 80% of the state supports a later start date, saying starting early negatively impacts family time and outside-classroom education.
On the flip side, Travis Frye, the coordinator for the Surry County tourism development authority said there could be a benefit to an earlier start date.
"It builds a balanced schedule but also helps with tourism and creating not just a summer explosion you can see tourism year-round and that's starting to be the case here in Surry County," Frye said.
Both the house and senate would need to approve the bill before it would go to the governor to sign it.