A bill before the North Carolina General Assembly (HB121) would return local control on school calendar issues to Haywood, Yancey and Madison counties.

As written, the proposed legislation exempts these three counties from abiding by the current law requiring schools to start no earlier than Aug. 26.

Rep Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, is the primary sponsor of the bill. She said she got the idea for the legislation after seeing a similar bill exempting Craven County from the calendar.

“I called the superintendents in my district to see if they would like something like that, too, and they said they would,” Presnell said.

Presnell said she agrees that a 185-day school year is a good thing, but finds the idea of local control over when those days are scheduled appealing.

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