CMS reveals calendar options for 2025-26 year. District wants input on breaks, workdays
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is considering two possible calendar options for the 2025-2026 school year and wants community input before the board makes its decision April 23.
In both options, the first day of school would be Aug. 25, 2025. The last day of school would fall on June 10 or June 11, 2026. Each calendar includes 177 total instructional days and 1,062 instructional hours.
The district’s hands are tied when it comes to school start and end dates. The North Carolina General Assembly passed a now-controversial law in 2004 that requires NC public school districts to start school no earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26 and end no later than the Friday closest to June 11.
Both potential CMS calendars have a 14-day winter break beginning for students Dec. 20, 2025 through Jan. 4, 2026, two days shorter than the 2024-25 school year and the same number of days as this year. One calendar option also includes a teacher workday on Dec. 22, while the other does not.
The main differences lie in the specific dates designated for teacher workdays and early dismissal.
How to give feedback
CMS has a public survey available on the board’s website from March 13 through March 22 where community members can weigh in on the proposed calendars.
Superintendent Crystal Hill will present an official calendar recommendation to the school board at its regular meeting March 26. There will be a public hearing April 9, and the board will vote whether to adopt the proposal April 23.
In previous years, the calendar survey has garnered very little participation from the public. The superintendent’s staff hopes this year is different.
“In previous years, the public survey was open before the board presentation, and as a result, we had low participation rates,” CMS Director of Administrative Services Lara Harris said in her presentation to the board Tuesday. “This year, we’re opening the survey after this presentation to garner more participation from all stakeholders.”
Next year’s calendar
The board approved the calendar for the 2024-25 school year in August.
School will begin next year on Aug. 26 and end June 10, 2025.
Like the proposed calendars, there are a total of 177 instructional days and 1,062 instructional hours. Winter break begins Dec. 20 and runs through Jan. 5, 2025, for a total of 16 days.
Why NC schools start when they do
Many public school officials say the calendar disadvantages public school students when it comes to testing. While public schools often test students after winter break due to the rigid schedule requirements, charter schools have the ability to test students before break.
After two weeks at home, public school students’ scores can suffer when compared to students who get to test before they go on break. Despite this, the testing outcomes of charter schools and traditional public schools will often be compared with one another.
The law remains in place to appease the tourism industry in North Carolina, its critics say.
“It’s frustrating that we would put the interests of hotels and summer camps above our students, and then it puts us on an unfair playing field,” Charles Jeter, CMS executive director of government affairs, policy and board communications, told The Observer. “You let us compete and we’ll win. If you say the charter schools get to have the football after every touchdown, though, that’s not fair.”
Some school districts, including Gaston County, have flouted state law and started school earlier.
