The fact that the Rowan-Salisbury School System has 16 schools struggling enough to merit the state’s “renewal” status is nothing to crow about. For once, though, the state is trying to do something positive for systems like Rowan-Salisbury. Not only do the renewal schools get to reinvent themselves with charter-school-like latitude; thanks to a bill passed last week in Raleigh, all 35 schools in the system could enjoy that same flexibility.

This could be a game-changer.

Rowan-Salisbury officials went to the General Assembly for the vote and seemed enthused about this new development. Rowan residents are new to this discussion and uncertain, but it beats trying the same thing over and over again. Under renewal status, schools have greater flexibility and choices in terms of curriculum, finances, personnel and calendar structure. That gives school leaders  real hope of creating something positive out of what has been a daunting situation — a significant number of low-performing schools.

Calendar flexibility alone is priceless. For years the system has been locked into a calendar designed to benefit the tourism industry more than students’ education, not starting the new school year until the last week of August. This set off a cascade of disadvantages, from being out of step with colleges to not finishing first semester until after Christmas. It has been awkward from Day One, which unfortunately seems so long ago that too many people just accept it. They shouldn’t.

The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education voted recently to establish a different schedule for North Rowan Elementary and North Rowan High Schools — two renewal schools that want to start classes earlier. If the systemwide renewal bill had been passed earlier, North Rowan Middle could be on the same schedule. Maybe it still can.

Since the inception of the charter-school movement, the promise was always that these independent, taxpayer-funded schools would try new approaches, and their best practices could be adopted by traditional public schools to raise student performance across-the-board. Up until now, that was just an empty sales pitch; public schools were never given the flexibility to attempt any of the charters’ innovations. The bill passed last week changes that.

The question is, now what? The school board will take up the matter on Monday and vote on whether to take on this new challenge. We don’t have enough information to make a decision yet; there are  bound to be trade-offs. Change makes many people nervous. But this change offers exciting possibilities.