Sweet Success...the provisions of HB 1464/SL 2004-180

HB 1464 made its way through the North Carolina General Assembly in 2004 and became SL 2004-180. It required the following changes in how local school boards determine the traditional school calendar.

1. Requires schools to open for students no earlier than August 25 and end no later than June 10.

2. Reduces the number of required days in the school calendar from 220 to 215. (see item 5 below for how this was accomplished)

3. Maintains the 180 instructional days for students.

4. Provides exceptions for year-round schools and in unusual circumstances (defined as schools closed at least 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).

5. Eliminates 5 teacher workdays from the school calendar without reducing teacher pay.

6. Ensures teachers are paid in August. Teachers could request the first full month's salary no later than Aug 31; subsequent pay dates would have to be spaced no more than one month apart and would have to include a full month's pay.

7. Requires that five workdays be restricted to instructional and classroom administrative duties. Local units would not be allowed to impose any additional tasks on those days. One of these days would have to be at the beginning of the school year and one at the end of each academic quarter.

8. Requires the State Board of Education study the scheduling of and purposes of noninstructional teacher workdays and report any findings to the Joint legislative Oversight Committee of the General Assembly by December 17, 2004.

9. Makes the new calendar mandate effective with the 2005-2006 school year.

Want to know more about House Bill 1464 (which as law is identified as SL 2004-180)?
The following links may be of interest:

• Complete text of House Bill 1464 as Ratified by the House and Senate. This copy has been edited from the original to remove "strikethroughs" of words, phrases, and sentences deleted or changed from earlier versions as the bill was modified in the legislative process. (PDF file, 5 pages, 18 k)
• How did legislators vote on this bill?
  • House of Representatives (PDF file, 4 pages, 64 k)
  • Senate (PDF file, 2 pages, 17