Mid-Missouri schools juggle snow days, AMI plans amid winter weather
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Mid-Missouri schools were impacted this week by winter weather and poor road conditions. A number of schools called off class, while others chose to partake in alternative methods.
Missouri law requires public school districts and charter schools to provide a minimum of 1,044 instructional hours each school year, but with winter weather peppering much of the state, many schools have burned through their snow days.
The 1,044 hours of instruction equates to roughly 166 days of school per year. According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, schools must factor a “minimum of 36 make-up hours”, or five days. These days can be added to the end of the academic year to meet state requirements.
Districts prepare for this by building a set number of snow days into their calendars, which provides a buffer to help the school year stay aligned with the original schedule. The flexibility allows adjustments to the school year's end date, as long as the state’s instructional hour requirements are met.
An example of this is the Southern Boone County R-1 School District, which utilized its traditional snow days that were built into its 2024-25 district calendar. However if Southern Boone needs to cancel in-person classes again, district spokesman Matt Sharp said the district will be transitioning to Alternative Methods of Instruction days moving forward.
The AMI days help reduce the need for in-person, make-up days and count toward the district's minimum 36 make-up hours. However, only 36 hours of AMI learning can be used. If the number of cancelations exceeds 36 hours then in-person make-up sessions are mandatory.
Last month Columbia Public Schools announced its implementation of AMI learning days, aligning with DESE’s incentive program under Senate Bill 727, which defines a "school term" as 169 days.
Districts meeting this threshold receive a financial bonus—1% of the district's annual budget this year, increasing to 2% in the 2026-27 school year and beyond. If CPS completes the 2024-25 school year with at least 169 instructional days, it expects to receive a bonus of at least $655,000, minus $95,000 in operational fees. These funds will be dedicated solely to educator-related expenses, such as hiring additional staff or providing raises. CPS has already used four AMI days this week.
Meanwhile, the Hallsville School District has not burned any AMI days. District spokeswoman Kari Yeagy says that Hallsville has scheduled two weather makeup days on Mondays in late January and early February. The school normally uses a four-day schedule.
Yeagy added that the district is trying to maximize the number of in-seat instructional hours for students, but once it runs out of weather-makeup days, the district will transition to AMI learning. Based on the current number of weather makeup days Hallsville allocated on its calendar, it will not need to extend its school year.
If a district exceeds both its built-in snow days and the 36 AMI hours, state law requires it to make up half of the additional hours missed between 36 and 60 hours. For example, if a district misses six days beyond the 36-hour AMI limit due to weather, it would only need to make up three of those days.
