KANSAS CITY – Nearly a quarter of all Missouri school districts have moved to a four-day week schedule. Until now, all have been small town or rural districts across the state.
The Independence School District will now join those districts in implementing a 4-day week schedule beginning in the 2023-2024 school year. With nearly 1,400 students, Independence is the largest district so far to make the switch, and the first district in an urban/suburban area.
The law allowing four-day weeks was passed as a cost-saving measure to help schools after the recession of 2007-2009.
But the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) says the short weeks are now being used as a perk to hire and retain teachers as Missouri suffers from a large teacher shortage.
Missouri previously had the lowest starting salary for teachers in the nation, though a bill raised the minimum salary this year to $38,000 — temporarily. The state is 37th in the nation for education funding.