This past legislative session, Missouri officials addressed the four-day school week (4dsw) as part of the large education reform package, Senate Bill (SB) 727. These changes seem designed to curb the growth of the 4dsw, but I do not think either of these provisions will make a significant difference—and recent comments by the Independence 30 School District superintendent (the biggest 4dsw district in the state) strengthen my convictions.
But first, a refresher. How exactly did SB 727 target the 4dsw?
The first change mandates that larger districts must allow citizens to vote on whether or not they use a 4dsw for the 2026–2027 school year and later. This applies to school districts located wholly or partially in a charter county (currently St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Clay, and Jackson counties), or those wholly or partially located in a city with more than 30,000 inhabitants. According to my own analysis, this would apply to only 100 school districts and charters (about 20% of the statewide total). Of those 100, so far, only five are currently operating on a 4dsw—meaning the other 168 4dsw districts will be able to continue to operate without a vote from citizens.
The second provision is as follows:
Any district that goes to school 169 days or more will be given an aid bonus equivalent to 1% of their state entitlement (which grows to 2% by 2028).
If you operate on a 4dsw, you will not have more than 169 school days. Therefore, a district must move to a five-day schedule in order to receive this bonus.
Back in March, I argued, “It does not appear that SB 727 creates any significant incentive to buck that [4dsw] trend.” Particularly on the aid bonus, I said,
If the goal of this part of the bill is to begin moving the 173 4dsw districts back to a 5dsw, this provision will probably be ineffective. It is too little money for too big a change, and many districts may argue that the savings they receive from using a 4dsw is higher than the aid they could receive.
Fast forward to this past week, and we see that exact argument in action. The large Independence 30 School District is holding a vote to determine if it will remain a 4dsw district. The district’s superintendent said the bonus aid for moving away from a 4dsw would net out to about $500 per teacher—which he claimed is not significant: “The financial incentive is so small that it’s not going to keep a particular teacher in the profession.”
The fiscal note for this bill estimates that the state could end up paying districts $75 million per year via these bonuses. The Independence story makes it seem unlikely that the state will end up paying out anything close to that, but it’s still money that could have been better spent on something else, such as increasing funding for the education savings account program. Regardless, as 2024–2025 schedules are being released statewide, it will be interesting to see how resilient the 4dsw is.
