Missouri and the four-day school week
Missouri has been at the center of the four-day school week movement, with more than a third of its districts on the schedule and a 2024 law — Senate Bill 727 — reshaping how districts adopt and keep it.
District map & school list
An estimated 196 Missouri public (non-charter) districts are using a four-day school week for 2026–27.
SB 727: requirements and election results
As of July 1, 2026, any district located wholly or partially in a charter county (Jackson, Clay, St. Louis, Jefferson, and St. Charles) or in a city with 30,000 or more residents must have:
- 1,044 hours and 169 days of instruction, or
- a four-day week approved by voters with at least 142 days — a “yes” vote locks in the schedule for ten years.
A financial incentive is paid to any district offering at least 169 instructional days. Rural districts under 30,000 residents and outside charter counties can still adopt the four-day week by school-board vote.
Read the full text of SB 727 →Every district that has put the four-day week to a public vote has passed it, with support ranging from about 62% to 87% — consistently higher than typical pre-adoption parent surveys. Observers credit communities having lived with the schedule before voting on it.
How each district voted
Missouri implementation research
State-level studies of the four-day week’s effects on achievement and school finance in Missouri.
From the Missouri State University research team
Dr. Jon Turner and colleagues have published a series of studies on the four-day school week, focusing on rural districts, teacher recruitment, and the perspectives of parents, staff, and community leaders.
Missouri teacher shortage data
Did you know? One of the main reasons schools transition to a four-day week is the teacher shortage and the difficulty of retaining teachers, especially given pay inequity from district to district. In 2024, around 9% of Missouri public school courses were taught by non-certified teachers — roughly 2,000 non-certified teachers, up from 2023.
Contact Dr. Jon Turner
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership · Missouri State University, Springfield MO