WPBN: Having snow days is something that a lot of children look forward to, but for school districts all around the Ozarks, those days could come with added costs.
According to a recently enacted law, all of the state’s schools are required to have a minimum of 169 school days. The state will lose money from them if they do not comply.
Therefore, some school districts, such as the Republic School District, are coming up with innovative approaches to fulfill the standards.
“We have chosen to use some additional new methods to ensure that we can meet that requirement without bumping too far into June,” Dr. Matt Pearce, the superintendent at the Republic School District stated.
The new rule will have an effect on a number of school districts across the state, including the Republic School District. At the end of May, Senate Bill 727 was approved.
The number of hours that school districts were obligated to spend on teaching was the basis for the school calendars that were established by the state in previous years. According to the law, schools in cities with populations of more than 30,000 people are expected to adhere to a school year that is 169 days long.
Congress enacted it with the intention of discouraging school districts from switching to four-day school weeks. If the districts do not complete the required number of days, they will suffer financial losses, which might amount to thousands of dollars.
Despite the fact that Springfield Public Schools currently fulfill the criterion with 172 days scheduled for this year, the 169-day calendar may have some influence on other schools.
“Summer school, which impacts people’s travel, which impacts vacations, which impacts the teacher’s willingness to work in summer school, and just a variety of things,” according to the superintendent.
Together with the use of virtual learning, some school districts have implemented early or late start days in order to fulfill the need.
“We’re going to try to use our days as wisely as possible. We’ve already told our community that if we have snow days before Martin Luther King Jr Day and before Presidents Day, those are the first two makeup days that we’ll do. But then, additionally, we’re going to have to be ready to go with a late start or early release.”
The modification to the rule will not become effective until the first of July in the year 2026.
According to State Representative Brad Banderman, the initial plan did not include a provision for snow days, which will result in snow day problems for rural schools, which normally have more time off during the winter months.
He has introduced a new measure in an effort to resolve the issue.
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