RALEIGH, N.C. — Next week's mass school closings for teacher protests might be North Carolina's last if budget language released Friday by House leadership becomes law.
The proposal would lock school calendars in place at the beginning of the school year, forbidding local boards of education from changing them except in response to "a severe weather condition, energy shortage, utility failure, public health crisis, school safety crisis, emergency related to a school building or school transportation, or act of God."
The House's education budget also tightens the process for teachers requesting personal days, saying they can't be approved on regular school days "unless the availability of a substitute for that teacher is confirmed for that day."
