Michigan law requires 180 school days of instruction, but automatically forgives up to six snow days
By Charles Honey
GVSU
(NOTE: This is an excerpt of the original story. For the complete article, click here.)
As classes resume this week, principals and teachers are scrambling to make up for lost instruction time.
Districts are required to provide 180 days and 1,098 hours of instruction time. If they fall short they will not receive their full state funding from the School Aid Fund. But they are automatically forgiven six snow days, and up to an additional three upon applying for a waiver, for circumstances beyond their control such as storms, fires and health issues.
In Rockford, last week’s five missed days — followed by this week’s ice storm — put the district’s total of closed days for the year at 11, counting days missed for extreme heat last August and for a power outage. That means Rockford has already surpassed the state’s legal limit for missed instruction days. Lowell has also had 11 snow days.
Rockford Superintendent Michael Shibler said he is talking with other superintendents in Kent County to craft a request for legislators to provide additional relief from the snow-day regulations, so districts don’t have to extend the school year further into June. Rockford and several other Kent ISD districts end June 7, while others end the last week of May.
Grand Rapids Public Schools has used eight snow days and will likely join other districts in asking for legislative relief, said spokesman John Helmholdt. Forest Hills has used nine.
Asking Snow Forgiveness
There is precedent for such relief, Shibler said, citing the 2013-14 school year when, following a winter in which districts missed an average of 9 ½ days. At that time, the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder allowed districts to add more minutes on to existing daysrather than schedule additional days. Given the unusual nature of last week’s storm, Shibler said it’s reasonable to ask for additional snow days to be forgiven.
“This is the first time I’m aware of that we’ve even used our six (allowed) days,” said Shibler, noting he’ll be requesting the additional three allowed by law. Even then, Rockford will need more relief because it has canceled school the maximum of nine times, he said.
Further, he doesn’t want to add more days beyond the district’s scheduled end date. Many families have already scheduled vacations, students have lined up summer jobs, and Shibler said he doesn’t want to have to cancel classes due to extreme heat as he did last August. Most Rockford buildings are not air-conditioned.
“I am going to be asking our state legislators to craft legislation to provide relief, and ask that the governor would sign that,” Shibler said.
Other school leaders are working on similar requests, said Chris Glass, lobbyist for the West Michigan Talent Triangle.
“I am hearing a common call for relief from my colleagues across the state,” Glass said. “The Michigan Association of School Administrators have also sent out communication to the superintendents across the state indicating they’re working on this as well.”
Although it’s too early to have received formal requests, “interest in forgiven days is high,” said William DiSessa, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Education. While districts may add time to each day to meet the instruction requirements, he added, the state recommends adding days, “because adding a few minutes at the end of each remaining day may not result in added learning by students.”
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