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An effort to slow down the trend of public-school districts moving to a four-day week stalled on the House floor. Pollock Representative Gabe Firment explained to a supporter of the bill, Mandeville Representative Kim Carver, that many rural school districts went to a four-day a week schedule to attract and retain schoolteachers. Firment says it also helps with teacher morale.
Firment: “There could be other Parishes that have not yet adopted a four-day school week that are struggling with those same issues?”
Carver: “There could be, yes. In the future, if they’re an A-rated school district, I think this would be an option that’s available to them.”
The bill is by Senator Beth Mizell. Her legislation would allow a school system to move from a five-day school week to a four-day school week, if they were an “A” graded school system.
During the debate, Firment expressed his approval for four-day school weeks.
“So, the four-day work week is attractive to teachers with young families. It’s been a valuable tool for us to just keep teachers,” Firment said.
As the debate went on, amendments were added to exempt more school systems and charter schools. Eventually Reserve Representative Sylvia Taylor says the issue needs to be studied before a law is passed.
“Why is there a rush to move forward on this bill, when this one wants to add this or exempt this or whatever? I think this is one of the bills that needs more study,” Taylor said.
The bill was returned to the calendar and it’s unknown if it has enough support to pass. 15 school systems have a four-day week schedule, and 12 school districts have gone to a four day a week since 2020.
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