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Governor's executive order on student-contact days creates uncertainty for districts, committee hears
Summary
Committee members and staff discussed a recent executive order that narrows which hours count toward required instruction and establishes a floor for student-contact days, complicating calendars for districts that adopted four-day weeks.
Board chair Tim McElrath and Superintendent Aaron Duff discussed a recent executive order from the governor that affects when and how districts may reduce student contact days. Duff summarized the order's two effects: it redefined which hours may count toward instructional time (excluding some professional development and parent-teacher conference hours) and set a minimum student-contact-day floor based on a prior year's calendar. "The executive order did 2 things. It redefined that those hours cannot include PD or parent teacher conferences... The student contact days are based on the '24 or '25 calendar... You can now never go under a 173 student contact day. So you can't cut days," Duff said.
Members noted the guidance is new and that legal status is murky; staff said districts are still assessing whether waivers or negotiations will be required for agreements that assumed different calendars. Committee members expressed concern about loss of local control and potential bargaining implications for contracts; staff emphasized districts will need to reconcile calendars and contracts if the order remains in effect.
