Every year, more school districts and charter schools in Idaho implement the four-day week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean students spend fewer hours in class.

In some cases, like the Teton School District — which is moving to a four-day week for the first time this school year — students will spend more hours in class. That’s because district leaders have lengthened the school day and added a week to the calendar, said Megan Bybee, a district administrator.

State data shows that this isn’t just the case in Teton — across Idaho, a four-day week doesn’t always translate into less instructional time.

That’s an important distinction after a legislative session in which lawmakers considered tying much-needed funding to schools to a requirement that current five-day school districts not reduce their classes to four days.

Ultimately, the funds were tied to a much less stringent requirement: that districts ensure that students newly introduced minimum of 152 school days per year. Since the average number of days in four-day districts was 146, this meant the calendar was extended by about a week. This restriction will take effect next school year.

Nevertheless, there were concerns: “I just don’t know how our students can compete nationally with states where kids go to school a month longer than our kids,” said State Board member Kurt Liebich. said in June.

A March analysis by EdNews showed that the number of days students in Idaho spent in class last school year varied widely, from 140 school days in a half-dozen rural school districts to 177 days in Lewiston. That’s a difference of more than seven full weeks, or about two months.

But despite opposition from lawmakers and state education officials, districts like Teton are opting for the four-day week to recruit teachers and improve student attendance.

The short weeks are “a benefit that keeps people here,” Bybee said. In Driggs, where the Teton School District is located, higher salaries in nearby Wyoming and rising real estate prices make it difficult to recruit and retain teachers.

Still, “it’s a big change for our community,” she said. The district has worked with community partners to ensure students have options for where to spend their new free Fridays.

Concerns about how at-risk students would spend that fifth day of the week led Jerome school administrators to decide against a four-day week last winter. But it was a controversial decision that led to a Teachers strike in protest.

This school year, five school districts and two charter schools (one of which is new) have adopted the four-day week, including the Nampa School District—the largest in Idaho to shorten its school week.

With the increase in four-day workweeks and the start of a new school year, this article provides an overview of how much time students in this state will spend in class.

Students in four- and five-day school districts spend, on average, similar amounts of time in class.

When comparing four-day school districts and charter schools to their five-day counterparts, the average class hours for students in grades 9 through 11, or the school’s oldest students, were close — within a dozen hours. That’s a difference of less than two school days over the entire school year.

When analyzing the data to see the traditional and charter districts with the most and fewest days of instruction for high school students, similar trends emerge: Schools with four or five days of instruction are equally likely to appear on each list.

And even in districts with five-day classes, there are large gaps in class hours.

For example, high school students in the Coeur d’Alene or Kuna school districts will spend 970 hours in class this year, compared to 1,194 hours in the Boise school district. That’s a difference of more than 200 hours, or about six school weeks.

Traditional districts with the most instructional time, grades 9-11

This is a half list of districts with five-day weeks and those with four-day weeks.

*Pure teaching hours, excluding the 22 hours of staff development that can be counted towards the minimum number of hours. Read more about the minimum number of hours Here.

Traditional districts with the least instructional time, grades 9-11

There are four districts on this list with five-day weeks.

*Pure teaching hours, excluding the 22 hours of staff development that can be counted towards the minimum number of hours. Read more about the minimum number of hours Here.

Charters with the longest instruction time, grades 9-11

At least five of these schools offer distance or hybrid learning.

*Pure teaching hours, excluding the 22 hours of staff development that can be counted towards the minimum number of hours. Read more about the minimum number of hours Here.

Charters with the least instructional time, grades 9-11

Six of the charters on this list have five-day weeks.

*Pure teaching hours, excluding the 22 hours of staff development that can be counted towards the minimum number of hours. Read more about the minimum number of hours Here.

Classes in new four-day districts or charter schools

Idaho Education News data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.