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Hoping to attract and retain more teachers, and in some cases, cut costs, more than 100 Texas school districts have switched to a four-day school week. Many are concerned about what that might do to already poor test scores across the country.
Jonathan Butcher with the Heritage Foundation says that we need to take a closer look at what our priorities are. He said, "The object here should not be to bring teachers in for an easy work day. The object should be to bring teachers in so that they can give students a better chance."
Butcher also pointed to concerns about students slipping even farther behind, just like they did during the virtual learning days of the COVID-19 lockdowns. He said, "Unless there is some sort of rigor that is going into these school days that makes them exceptional, you're running the risk that these students could fall behind."
But it's not just the students that could be negatively affected here. Butcher pointed out that this could add an extra stick in the mud for parents who are still working a full five days at the office.
He said that many of these younger students, including pre-k, kindergarten, and even elementary school kids, will likely still need adults with them in the house. This means parents will have to either lose time at work, or shell out extra money for child care.
We reached out to Crosby ISD, who implemented a four-day school week back in 2023, but they did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
