Extending Summer

North Carolina schools get new starting date, longer vacations.

North Carolina students got an extra week or so of summer vacation before returning to class Aug. 25, thanks to a new law designed to stem the trend of earlier school openings.

But educators and students may not be so happy come January, because first-semester classes are expected to end after the holiday break with students prepared to take final exams.

The legislature ratified the changes to the school calendar in August 2004 after heavy lobbying from parents and representatives of real estate and tourism groups, who complained that the start of the school year had slowly crept into summer vacation in an increasing number of school systems. ( "State Journal: Summertime Blues," ...