Four-day school week not option in Missouri

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) -- In more than a dozen states, public school districts have begun offering four-day weeks to cut their fuel costs. But in Missouri, that option does not yet exist.

Current Missouri law does not permit that but some districts have begun inquiring, said Jim Morris, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

"This topic is beginning to generate some buzz certainly across the country," he said. "There was (four-day week) legislation introduced (in the Missouri Legislature) last year. It didn't go anywhere.

"We think this idea is going to continue to garner interest. We expect it will be back next year in the legislative session. We're going to discuss it with the state board of education when they have their next meeting in the first week of August."

State Sen. Scott Rupp, R-Wentzville, who is a member of the Senate's Education Committee, said he is willing to consider a legislative change to permit four-day school weeks.

"It's something I would happily explore," he said. "A lot of superintendents have tended to be pretty supportive of this recently because of fuel costs."

The approximately 100 mostly rural school districts around the nation that have made the change report saving thousands of dollars in fuel costs.

"I think it's a certainty that it could be a cost-saving measure on a variety of fronts," said Morris. "I don't know that anybody has any solid information about the instructional impact. Is this going to be good, bad or indifferent in terms of kids learning? I think folks are going to have to decide whether the potential negative consequences to instruction for learning are going to be worth the savings."

In Palmyra in northeast Missouri, where an additional $40,000 has been budgeted for fuel in the 2008-09 school year, Superintendent Eric Churchwell said a school district's bottom line cannot be only consideration.

"I would say if we could maintain the academic standards that we have or enhance them, then it would be worth looking at," Churchwell said.

"But if there would be a decrease in the quality of education because of going to four days, I wouldn't want to sacrifice a kid's education to save that money."

Churchwell said school systems tend to resist change without a driving force, but rising gas prices might be just that force.

"At those times they tend to embrace change or out-of-the-box type of thinking, where usually if there's not something pushing them, they don't warm up to those ideas," he said.

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Information from: Hannibal Courier-Post, http://www.hannibal.net