The proposed calendar the Chilton County Board of Education approved Tuesday for the 2014-2015 school year contains several changes from the previous year’s calendar.

One of the most significant changes is the start date, which is Aug. 13, three days earlier than the start date of the 2013-2014 school year.

Prior to the 2012-2013 school year, the Alabama Legislature required students to start school no earlier than two weeks before Labor Day, but Chilton County Schools Superintendent Dave Hayden said the state lifted the requirement this year.

“We weren’t bound by the start date that had been three weeks before Labor Day, so we moved it back to Wednesday and that gave us some flexibility,” Hayden said. “We have some weather days built in, which the state does recommend.”

Schools will be closed for Good Friday and a weather day April 3, and other student holidays include a teacher workday on May 1 and Columbus Day on Oct. 13.

As with the 2013-2014 school year, the 2014-2015 school year will consist of 175 days of instruction and a total of 1,080 hours of instructional time, which breaks down into six hours and 12 minutes of instruction per day.

Board President Lori Patterson said the board tried to make days of instruction equal in the first and second semester.

“It’s very similar to what we had [last year],” Hayden said.

Other general dates include:

•Teachers’ Institute/Professional Development, Aug. 4–12.

•Labor Day, Sept. 1.

•Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

•Thanksgiving, Nov. 26-28.

•Christmas holidays (first term ends), dismiss at 3 p.m. Dec. 19; employees return Jan. 5, 2015; teacher workday, Jan. 6, 2015; students return (second term begins) Jan. 7, 2015.

•Martin Luther King holiday, Jan. 19, 2015.

•President’s Day/weather day, Feb. 16, 2015.

•Spring Break, March 23-27, 2015.

•Closing date and graduation, May 21, 2015.

•Employee work day, May 22, 2015.