Missouri lawmakers pass massive education bill targeting 4-day weeks, boosting private schools

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers on Thursday approved a sweeping education bill that requires voters to decide whether large school districts can shift to four-day school weeks, raises teacher pay and expands a scholarship program for students to attend private or charter schools.

The bill, which passed the Missouri House on a vote of 82 to 69, now heads to Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. It passed the Senate on a vote of 19 to 10 last month.

The legislation has faced criticism from the Independence School District, which last year became the largest school system in the state to try a four-day week in an attempt to attract teachers.

It would require school districts in Jackson, Clay, St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles counties, or districts that serve more than 30,000 residents, to receive approval from a majority of voters in the district by 2026 in order to keep a four-day week or to begin offering it.

School board members under current state law can decide whether a district shifts to a four-day week. The legislation would not affect smaller districts in more rural parts of the state.

“We’re taking care of parents,” said Rep. Phil Christofanelli, a St. Peters Republican who handled the bill in the House. “A lot of parents got frustrated seeing their schools go to four days in big suburban communities when you need to get your kids to work.”

The provision regarding four-day weeks was mentioned only briefly during the House debate on Thursday. It was included in a more than one-hundred-page education bill that also allows charter schools to operate in Boone County and raises the starting salary for teachers to $40,000.

The core of the Republican-led bill, filed by Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican, would expand the tax-credit-funded scholarship program for private or charter schools.

Christofanelli on Thursday touted the massive bill as historic, telling his colleagues that it would be “the most important vote you ever take.”

Thursday’s passage of the expansion was widely viewed as a win for school choice advocates, who have for years pushed for greater access to non-traditional K-12 education such as private and religious schools.

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