The Pennsylvania School Code was modified in December by legislation signed by Governor Josh Shapiro. This gave districts the option to select between 180 school days and the hourly instruction requirements of 900 for elementary students and 990 for secondary students.
The criteria for hourly instruction could be satisfied by four-day school weeks with expanded hours from Monday through Thursday or from Tuesday through Friday.
State Representative Aaron Bernstine, cited by the Associated Press, stated, “This is an important piece of legislation, because every school district, and especially those that are in the vo-tech area, they may have different needs than deal with the number of days that students need to go and the number of hours that students need to go.”
Legislative supporters assert that the amendment permits schools to adapt to changing weather patterns, student apprenticeships, internships, career and technical education programs, professional development opportunities, and community activities.
Additionally, it will enable institutions to monitor remote learners through instructional hours as opposed to days.
“Making it flexible so that families can have the time to spend with each other would be beneficial, but if we are going to do it for schools, we need to do it for work as well because a lot of parents have 9-to-5s and they have strict schedules,” parent Leta Scott stated. “So to be able to accommodate the school schedule being different it would have to be different all the way around so we could actually have that time with our kids.”
Before Shapiro signed the law, Pennsylvania was one of eighteen states that required a day and hour. The Associated Press reports that hundreds of school districts nationwide, primarily in rural and western areas, have switched to four-day work weeks in recent years.
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While polls indicate parents are generally in favor, support from parents of younger children dwindles. Districts use cost savings and benefits as reasons for recruiting teachers.
Based on an investigation by Education Next, students who attend schools that transition to a four-day schedule do better on standardized examinations in reading and arithmetic.
Four-day schools in the United States provide an average of 148 school days. According to Education Next, South Dakota used four-day school weeks for the first time in recorded history in the 1930s.
