When school starts in less than a month, students in 10 Iowa districts will go to school just four days a week.
Iowa Senate President Amy Sinclair said it’s happening because of a recent change in Iowa law. It lets schools choose to calculate the required amount of classroom instruction each school year by the total number of days or 1080 hours.
“I have started the process of looking at the results,” she said during a recent appearance on Iowa Press on Iowa PBS. “We always want to know how this is impacting student achievement, how this is impacting families who utilize public schools.”
Over 1600 districts in 24 states have opted for a four-day week and most offer child care on the other weekday. Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton who is the former chair of the Senate Education Committee, said research shows parents depend upon schools for child care. “Unless the data prove us otherwise in student achievement or in a family’s ability to maintain meaningful work, I’m happy letting those local school districts make those decisions,” she said.
There’s been some pushback in other states on a four-day school week. A bill introduced in Louisiana sought to ban four day school weeks and legislators in Missouri and Texas have considered limiting which districts can switch to four days a week.
The following Iowa school districts will have four-day weeks: Cardinal Community, East Union, Highland, Martensdale-St. Mary’s, Mormon Trail, Moulton-Udell, Murray, North Iowa, Saydel and Waco.
