Fort Bend ISD and Stafford MSD would both need to add instructional days if Texas lawmakers restore a 180-day school year minimum discussed at a Tuesday, Oct. 6 Senate Education Committee hearing.

Fort Bend ISD's board-approved 2026-27 calendar schedules 172 instructional days. Stafford MSD's calendar, approved March 16, schedules 175 days for its roughly 3,600 students. Both districts run traditional five-day weeks and are not among the 181 Texas districts using four-day schedules.

Still, both fall below the 180-day threshold that committee Chair Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, urged lawmakers to consider. "At least 180 days is the minimum. We've had that before, but [later] allowed flexibility and our days [in school] dropped. 180 is something we definitely need to think about," Campbell said at the hearing.

Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath told the committee the average Texas student spends 169 days per year in school, according to CW39. Mississippi requires 180. In 2015, the Texas Legislature replaced the old 180-day requirement with a minutes-based minimum of 75,600 instructional minutes, giving districts flexibility to compress their calendars.

The growth has been steep.

TEA and University of Houston data show 572 campuses across 181 districts used four-day weeks in the 2024-25 school year, up from 62 districts in 2022-23 and just two in 2017-18, according to Community Impact Newspaper.

The academic results have raised alarms. A TEA study found students at four-day schools scored at least five percentage points lower on STAAR reading exams in grades 6-8 and math exams in grades 4-6 during the 2022-23 school year compared with five-day peers.

"I find it a little sad and disturbing that we're talking about Mississippi being ahead of Texas," State Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said after Morath presented data showing Texas trailing Mississippi in fourth- and eighth-grade reading.

Morath told the committee that longer school days do not compensate for fewer total days. Students in four-day districts spend an average of 85 fewer hours in the classroom each year, according to a 2021 national study cited at the hearing.

Dr. Emily Morton, research consulting director for the Northwest Evaluation Association, testified that four-day districts saw roughly 2% savings in spending and a 30-40% drop in bullying. But teacher quality and school climate ratings did not improve, and those districts saw increases in juvenile crime and food insecurity.

Natalia ISD Superintendent Dr. Elmer Avellaneda told the committee his district's TEA rating fell from a "C" to an "F" during its years on a four-day calendar. The school board voted to return to five days.

A previous attempt to restrict four-day weeks, Senate Bill 2368, passed the Senate in 2023 but stalled in a House committee. No new bill has been filed. The hearing is expected to inform proposals for the 2027 legislative session.