Published on: 05-23-2004

The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer

Some state legislators agree, and there's a move afoot in Raleigh to adjust the school year back to a calendar that hews closer to tradition, and makes far more sense for families that want summer vacations and kids who want summer jobs. There's more to it than family convenience - for the many businesses that depend on young summer employees, and for students who need to make some money, the vacation calendar is a major economic issue too.

That's why the bill, filed by Rep. Connie Wilson, a Mecklenburg Republican, is getting fast support from House and Senate leaders. And in the past week, it also appeared that the organization that has previously opposed changes in the school calendar - the North Carolina Association of Educators - may not stand in the way this year. The NCAE is a powerful lobbying group and has a firm hold on a lot of legislative votes. Last year, the group killed a measure that would have required school to open after Labor Day. This year, the lobbyists are whistling in a different key. While the NCAE hasn't fully dropped its opposition to the calendar revision, its president, Carolyn McKinney, says her group is working on a compromise that will "allow for a later opening of school."

Wilson, the bill's sponsor, said last week that she's "ecstatic" that the bill has a chance. "People are fed up with the current school schedule." Hard to blame them, when some schools actually haul the kids back to the classroom before July has ended.

But the bill doesn't lack opposition. Nearly two-thirds of the state's school boards have put themselves on record opposing any legislation that would impose school calendars on them. And there are teacher contract issues for many of them that are indeed a concern. But if the current schedule is the best they can do, the General Assembly is well within its rights to fight for a change - and can be assured that it has plenty of parental and student support in doing so.

It's time to return "summer vacation" to a time frame that makes sense for students, their families and their communities. If the state's school boards aren't willing to do it, then we'll be pleased if the legislature does it for them.