Board amends and adopts 2026 legislative priorities, changing language on four-day school week

The ISE Board of Education voted to amend and adopt its 2026 legislative-priority platform Tuesday evening, changing the platform’s language on the district calendar and adding clarifications about constitutional references.

Board member Jill proposed replacing the phrasing “operate a 4 day school week” with “evaluate a 4 day school week,” saying the change would commit the district to monitoring outcomes rather than lock in a schedule. “I feel like that after this vote, I think it’s very important for us to, monitor the 4 day school week and, to look for ways to make that as as good as possible,” Jill said.

The board also added the word “Missouri” before references to the constitution to remove ambiguity and corrected a plural possessive to read “local school districts’ authority,” broadening the language to apply beyond the single district. Superintendent Dr. Grama expressed support for including evaluation language given the district’s multi-year implementation and the need to analyze data and community feedback.

After brief discussion and a voice vote, the amendments carried, and the board subsequently approved the full legislative-priority document as amended. Board members described the document as guidance for advocacy with state legislators—outlining stances the district will present when meeting with senators and representatives.

The board said the platform focuses on supporting local control over matters such as calendars and open enrollment and is intended to be used as the district’s advocacy guide rather than a binding operational mandate.

What happens next: the board adopted the document and will use the platform in legislative outreach; no immediate changes to district policy were made at the meeting.