Why doe Missouri have the shortest school year?

[pstokely]

Most states require 180 school days, Missouri only requires 174

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Actually it's 175

Write your state rep. Sounds like a good issue for them to tackle in Jeff City. And you should also ask them to raise the dropout age to 18.

[ikojo]

2. I don't know but getting the school year lengthened will

be an uphill struggle. People in St Louis are freaking out that their kids are starting school BEFORE Labor Day. I grew up in Illinois where we ALWAYS started school in August. I never heard of starting after Labor Day until I moved to St Louis.

I'd like to see year round school. The kids don't forget as much and there is far less time spent reviewing at the beginning of the year

[pstokely]

3. School might be starting late next year thanks to Branson

http://www.senate.mo.gov/07info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=r&BillID=136

Is this in the city of STL or in the Suburbs?

[ikojo]

4. Branson is in SOUTHERN Missouri near

John Ashcroft land, Springfield Missouri. It is NOWHERE near St Louis and is DEFINITELY not a suburb!

[pstokely]

5. But that law affects the whole state

Most schools have been starting in Mid-August and ending in May for the last few years? Sports practices start the 6th. Does any district in this state even start after Labor Day?

[AllegroRondo]

7. lots of St Louis county schools start in mid-August

My daughter goes back on the 20th.

Funny, Wisconsin just passed a law last year that required school years to start after Labor Day. It was pushed by the Wisconsin Dells area businesses. Schools there dont get out until mid-June.

[pstokely]

8. The tourism industry thinks more days in August is better for business

Early June had a lot of rain, it's also less hot in June. I'm surprised that schools don't start earlier. Most colleges in the state start in Mid-August.

[pstokely]

6. I was asking about St. Louis

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. We need to air condition our schools first

before we even think about year round schools.

[pstokely]

10. My district has AC

but they've only had it for less than 5 years

[wildflowergardener]

11. year round

I would not want to see year round school, because I know that I would have missed out on good experiences, for example going to summer camp in the summer, if school had been year round. Also the school was not air conditioned, so it would have been impossible. We had more heat days off then snow days generally. This was in Kirkwood, MO - a suburb of St. Louis.

I guess people could switch to a private school to avoid this, but I know when I went to school I would not have wanted to have school year round.

There is always summer school if parents want to send their kids.

Meg

[LWolf]

12. Are students on campus for all 174 days?

If so, they get more days than mine do. While we "officially" have 180 days, students only attend for 168 of those days.

[RayOfHope]

13. yep n/t

[LWolf]

14. Our district, last week,

began floating the idea of cutting THIS school year by 10 days to deal with mid-year budget cuts from the state.

If it happens, that would put us at 158 student days.

Which is ludicrous.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Wow

What does the state require?

[pstokely]

16. 174 I think

Most states have 180