ST. PETERS, Mo.—Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Wednesday that school districts in the state should stick with five-day weeks, as more districts are making the switch to a four-day schedule in order to cut costs or keep teachers and staff.

The Independence School District, with over 30,000 students, became the largest in the state to move to a four-day schedule starting with the current 2023-2024 school year. Missouri State University research estimates 146 districts now use the approach, up from 129 last year.

“I think you’ve got to be very careful when you start going four day school weeks and why we’re doing it,” Parson told Spectrum News Wednesday.

His concern is about COVID-19 learning loss that affected the end of the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. 

“I really believe the five day school week right now is the one we need to stay with and we should focus on that. Really, the priority should be are we giving kids a quality education and how we’re going to make up for those two years and I think again we’re starting to push that like that didn’t happen but the reality of it is we have a generation of kids out there that didn’t get the education they need so I don’t think shortening the time period  for them to go to school is gonna help,” Parson said.

In Jefferson County, the Crystal City School District, with a little over 500 students, moved to four-day weeks starting in the fall of 2021. The switch adds about 40 minutes to each day in order to hit state-mandates for learning time. With a Tuesday-Friday schedule, one Monday a month is dedicated for professional development time that in a five-day week environment, would mean a half-day or no school for students. The district offers childcare for families on Mondays and also encourages families to use that day to schedule medical appointments, rather than missing instructional time. 

State lawmakers proposed legislation in this past session that would require five-day weeks, with some exceptions, or would allow students to transfer out of them. The ideas did not advance to the Governor’s desk.

State Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton, said he’ll introduce legislation next year that would require five-day school weeks in school districts in charter counties–St. Louis, St. Charles, Jefferson, Clay and Jackson—and would only allow a four-day week after a vote of the public in a district. Beck would also tie the award of an extra 2% a district receives in state foundation formula funding, to districts who attend school for five days.

Dr. Crystal Reiter, the new superintendent for Crystal City Schools, said the early returns show the switch has had little impact on student performance there, but cautioned that with the pandemic’s impact on learning, it could take several years worth of more data to gauge it.

Reiter told Spectrum News earlier this month that the number of days isn’t always what matters. 

“In some school districts where I've been we've talked about and actually have had Saturday school for students and so again it's not always about the amount of time time that you have, it's how you're using the time to grow students on their path in their learning so I would say that's most important,” she said.

"The 4-day school week law was enacted in 2009, at a time post-recession when schools were looking at all available cost-saving opportunities. Now, 4-day school weeks are more typically being put into place as a teacher recruitment and retention tool, as states across the country face unprecedented workforce challenges. Our department is studying how 4-day school weeks impact student learning," the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said in a statement to Spectrum News. "In the meantime, we encourage school districts to be thoughtful in how they continue to serve students and families on that fifth day of the week, knowing the importance of high-quality instructional time for students."