Missouri lawmakers push to clarify school calendar, snow day rules
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
While cold weather may have moved out of Mid-Missouri, the lingering effects of last week’s snowfall will affect Columbia Public Schools.
On Feb. 17, CPS used its last-of-six allotted alternative methods of instruction days. The next day, CPS was forced to use a "traditional snow day” which will force the district to add an extra school day to the 2024-25 calendar.
In December, CPS announced the implementation of AMI days, aligning with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s incentive program under Senate Bill 727, which defines a school term as 169 days and a minimum of 1,044 instructional hours. Under state guidelines, schools must account for a minimum of 36 make-up hours—equivalent to five days—which can be added to the end of the school year if needed. CPS is on track to surpass the number of hours but not the number of days.
“It [SB 727] was really designed to make it very difficult for a four-day school model to qualify for this additional funding,” Rep. Brad Banderman (R- St. Clair) told ABC 17 News.
AMI days help minimize the need for in-person, make-up days by counting toward the required 36 make-up hours. However, Missouri allows only 36 hours of AMI learning; any additional cancellations beyond that threshold require in-person make-up days. CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said that some of the language in the bill created issues for many districts.
The Missouri Legislature currently has multiple bills aimed at clarifying some language and preventing districts from having to weigh student safety against state funding when deciding whether to cancel school during inclement weather.
HB 368, sponsored by Banderman, clarifies that a school district will still qualify for additional funding if its calendar includes 169 days, even if inclement weather or a state-authorized reduction results in fewer days in session.
Banderman said the idea for the bill originated in the Avondale School District in Franklin, where his wife serves as a principal.
“The superintendent of that school, Judy Oelrich, is the one that first brought it to my attention, that the adjustment that we made in (SB)727 may be problematic to the way that we've traditionally built calendars in the schools for the last several years,” Banderman said. “This is definitely something that every school district in the state of Missouri is interested in if they're currently in a five-day school model.”
House Bill 607, sponsored by Rep. Ed Lewis (R-Moberly) would change teacher salary provisions. The bill would allow for teachers to receive the salary incentives under Senate Bill 727, in districts with a school calendar of 169 days. The clarification allows for inclement weather or authorized reductions to the number of days the district must be in session to qualify for funding.
“Brad [Banderman] called me and we were talking over the summer and he said ‘We got this problem with 727 with how it does the calendar. “When I looked into it DESE (the Department of Secondary and Elementary Education) said, ‘Yeah we don’t know how that’s going to work with the way we're doing calendars 169 days,” Lewis said when asked about the origin of the bill.
CPS says that the way SB 727 was written impacted how it managed this year's calendar,
“AMI isn’t going away, but we’ll continue to get better at it,” Baumstark told ABC 17 News in a statement. “It was necessary when the state law changed this past legislative session and the calendar became tied to funding for teacher salaries. It was passed late in the legislative session and left many districts in a tough position. In Columbia, our calendar was approved by the Board two years ago so a late change and an even later interpretation by DESE on how to implement the requirements left the district, and others across the state, with few options.”
Banderman says his bill has received little opposition.
“I've been contacted by school districts in all kinds of regions across the state. I mean, the bill applies to every school district within the state of Missouri if they'd like to access that additional funding that the legislature passed in 727,” Banderman said.
Last week the Columbia Board of Education discussed three options on how to best make up the number of school days lost to snow. Lewis says that it would go into effect immediately, meaning CPS would not have to alter its calendar. However, CPS board member Paul Harper tells ABC 17 that the board can't plan on something the Missouri Legislature may or may not do.
"That's in flux we don't know what is going to happen," Harper said. "We have to plan based on current law."
