In North Carolina, the school calendar is set by the local Board of Education based on legislation approved by the North Carolina General Assembly. This legislation mandates how many instructional hours/days students must receive, the number of teacher workdays and leave days, and which days will be holidays. The NC calendar legislation also determines the beginning and ending dates of the school year.

For the 2020-2021 school year only, districts were required to begin school on August 17, 2020 and have a closing date for students no later than June 11, 2021. Unless action is taken by the NC General Assembly, the 2021-2022 school calendar will be based on the original calendar legislation/requirements and have a start date "no earlier than the Monday closest to August 26 and end date no later than the Friday closest to June 11."

School calendars can be based on the number of student days OR hours of instruction. OCS uses hours of instruction as our basis for the total number of student days. State legislation requires school systems using this measure to have a minimum of 1,025 hours of instruction. Systems can have more than that, but may not have less.

School calendars must also follow the following requirements:

• Cover at least nine calendar months.
• Must have at least nine (9) teacher workdays.
• Have a minimum of ten (10) annual vacation leave days.
• Have the same or an equivalent number of legal holidays occurring within the school calendar as those designated by the State Personnel Commission for State employees.
• School shall not be held on Sunday.
• Veterans Day shall be a holiday for all public school personnel and for all students enrolled in the public schools.

- source: School Calendar Legislation page - North Carolina Department of Public Instruction