Q: I have heard the Legislature is considering a four-day school week due to current budget problems, what do you know about this?

A: We went directly to the experts for an answer to this question. Dan Steele, the legislative coordinator for WSSDA (Washington State School Directors Assn), tells us, “There are bills in both the House and Senate to allow (not require) school districts to have less than an 180-day school year. The currently required 1000 hours of instructional time would remain. One of the purposes would be to allow school districts to have a four-day school week. The House bill (HB 1292) is moving, but it has been amended to “pilot” the program, allowing no more than five school districts to participate. Also, in order to be eligible, the district must have less than 500 students.”