A West Virginia law signed April 1 lets school districts design academic calendars around instructional hours rather than days, giving them flexibility to move to a four-day school week.
On the other hand, in Louisiana, lawmakers are contemplating a bill that would mandate a five-day school week for districts, with exceptions for those with the highest performance level and those operating on a four-day schedule before the end of last year.
And in Texas’ Liberty Hill Independent School District, the board of trustees voted last month on a hybrid approach with both 4 and 5-day weeks. The 9,800-student school system is adjusting its 2026-27 calendar to have more five-day school weeks than it did this school year.
Even though Liberty Hill ISD conducted surveys of teachers, staff, students and families and had input from several advisory committees, crafting the 2026-27 calendar was a "balancing act," Superintendent Travis Motal said during a March 9 Board of Trustees meeting.
Across the country, districts and states are debating the benefits and challenges of four-day school weeks — a strategy used for a variety of reasons including teacher retention and budget savings.
"There is just not one magical calendar out there that everybody goes, 'This is the calendar that meets all of our needs,'" Motal said.
Typically, a four-day school week has four days for student instruction. The fifth day of the week could be a complete day off for students and teachers — or it could be a non-instructional day where students participate in extracurricular activities or targeted instruction, and teachers have time for professional development and lesson planning.
According to a 2023 analysis by the National Conference of State Legislatures, 24 states had at least one school district operating on a four-day school week. That statistic reflected an increase of over 600% since 1999. The abbreviated school weeks are more prevalent in small, rural districts, although larger districts have been discussing the option more recently, according to the NCSL analysis.
Weighing the pros and cons
Supporters of a four-day school week point to opportunities to increase teacher morale and teacher and staff retention by having a shortened week.
A 2025 analysis of research by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that, on average, 4-day school weeks do not reduce teacher turnover. However, NCTQ also found positive perceptions from teachers and administrators of 4-day school weeks.
Districts operating on a four-day schedule also saved about 2%, or about $300 per student, due to reduced transportation, food service and operations spending, according to research released in February by NWEA, a research and assessment company.
Another upside, proponents say, is having the extra day in the week for students to participate in extracurricular activities, rest and catch up on schoolwork. During the March 9 Liberty Hill ISD board meeting, two trustees talked about the flexibility the 4-day school week provided.
"It gave you freedom. Some kids were getting caught up on homework, some kids were doing extra sports stuff on those days, so it gave people an opportunity to do whatever was best for your kid and your family," said Chris Neighbors, one of the trustees.
But Neighbors said he also empathized with families who need to find childcare for the nonschool weekdays.
Nationally, some opponents worry that a shortened school week will hurt academic achievement. NWEA's research found that potentially negative impacts depend on how the 4-day school week is implemented.
On average, NWEA said studies on four-day school weeks find "small to moderate negative impacts" on student achievement, or student progress that is about two to seven weeks less per year than students at similar five-day districts.
A 2025 analysis of 11 high-quality U.S. studies by HEDCO Institute for Evidence-Based Educational Practice at the University of Oregon found that a four-day school week is “probably not” beneficial for students, and there’s no evidence of large positive effects on student outcomes. Most of the analysis looked at schools with four-day school weeks in Oregon, Oklahoma and Colorado.
'Listening and understanding'
In weighing the benefits and challenges to a four-day school week, districts also need to follow state requirements for instructional hours or days or other mandates for developing a calendar.
A 2024 Missouri law, for example, requires that four-day school weeks have local voter approval.
In Liberty Hill ISD, the calendar changes for the 2026-27 school year needed to meet Texas' requirements that districts provide a minimum of 75,600 instructional minutes each school year. If districts do not meet that threshold, they could lose funding, according to Liberty Hill ISD.
The district is also aiming to get a waiver from the state for 2,100 instructional minutes and instead use that time for professional development. The district's previous attempt to get a waiver was denied by the state during this school year.
In designing next school year's calendar, Liberty Hill ISD began the process in November by surveying a variety of stakeholders. About 5,000 people responded to the survey, with 66% preferring an "innovative" calendar rather than a "traditional" calendar," Motal said.
A Calendar Advisory Committee made up of parents, teachers and administrators also provided opinions on calendar options. Part of the group's research was studying school calendars from across the state.
"No two calendars were the same at all — not even close," Motal said.
As the Board of Trustees prepared to vote on next school year's calendar, Neighbors told Motal and the other trustees that he could support a schedule that had more 5-day school weeks.
"So every group gets some kind of win, and then every group gets some kind of loss," Neighbors said. "It was all about listening and understanding, and we've tried to do that.”
