Almost a quarter of all school districts in Missouri — that's nearly 150 of them — have four-day school weeks. A bill in Jefferson City seeks to change that.
Senator Doug Beck from Affton has sponsored legislation that would require schools to be in session five days a week. He says the more contact teachers have with students, the better.
Under Beck's bill there would be one exception — if a district is in a county with more than 30,000 people, the district has to ask voters before adopting a shortened week.
Schools in Missouri started shortening their weeks in part as a recruiting tactic for teachers as they faced a shortage. Missouri Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven told the Springfield News-Leader in January that if too many school districts switch to four-day weeks, the schedule won't be a recruitment strategy anymore.
The bill to lengthen school weeks has passed the Senate and now heads to the House.
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