Four-day school weeks not option in Missouri

In approximately 16 states, public school districts have chosen to go with four-day weeks in an effort to cut their fuel costs. In Missouri, such an option does not exist, at least yet.
“Current Missouri law does not permit that. A public school district does not have the option of going to a four-day week on its own because our law says that a minimum school year consists of 174 days and 1,044 hours,” said Jim Morris, a spokesman with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
While not available in Missouri, it has already been a point of inquiry, according to Morris.
“We’ve had a couple of contacts, but this topic is beginning to generate some buzz certainly across the country,” he said. “There was (four-day week) legislation introduced (in the Missouri Legislature) last year. It didn’t go anywhere. We think this idea is going to continue to garner interest. We expect it will be back next year in the legislative session. We’re going to discuss it with the state board of education when they have their next meeting in the first week of August.”
State Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville, who is a member of the Senate’s Education Committee, is willing to consider a legislative change to permit four-day school weeks.
“It’s something I would more than happily explore,” he said. “Local school districts would have to adopt that policy (for it to be implemented). All we as a state would be doing is giving them another tool with which to serve the public in rural areas. A lot of superintendents have tended to be pretty supportive of this recently because of fuel costs.”
The approximately 100 mostly rural school districts around the nation that have made the change report saving thousands of dollars in fuel costs alone.
“I think it’s a certainty that it could be a cost-saving measure on a variety of fronts,” said Morris. “I don’t know that anybody has any solid information about the instructional impact. Is this going to be good, bad or indifferent in terms of kids learning? I think folks are going to have to decide whether the potential negative consequences to instruction for learning are going to be worth the savings.”
In Palmyra, where an additional $40,000 has been budgeted for fuel in the 2008-09 school year, Superintendent Eric Churchwell says a school district’s bottom line cannot be the deciding factor in whether a four-day school week works for a district.
“I would say if we could maintain the academic standards that we have or enhance them then it would be worth looking at. But if there would be a decrease in the quality of education because of going to four days, I wouldn’t want to sacrifice a kid’s education to save that money,” he said.
Churchwell noted, that if the change to a four-day week did not hurt the quality of education, districts could also save money in its food and energy costs.
“I think you could save money in some other ways, too, that you could look at,” he said.
While Rupp has not been contacted by anyone in education who supports a four-day school week, he suspects he will as fuel prices climb higher.
“School systems tend to be pretty resistant to change unless there’s a driving force and it seems like there’s a driving force with the gas prices behind it. At those times they tend to embrace change or out-of-the-box type of thinking, where usually if there’s not something pushing them, they don’t warm up to those ideas,” he said.