Schools can lengthen days due to snow days

LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation today that allows school districts that have exceeded their allotted six days of school closure to extend the length of remaining school days instead of adding days to the year in order to meet the required minimum 1,098 hours of instruction.

“This will help schools that were forced to use more snow days this year, particularly in northern and west Michigan, to meet instructional time requirements without having to extend the school year further into June,” Snyder said.

The State School Aid Act requires that schools must meet a minimum 170 days and 1,098 hours of pupil instruction to qualify for funding. House Bill 4471, sponsored by state Rep. Phil Potvin, permits schools that failed to provide the minimum required number of days for the 2012-2013 school year to extend the length of remaining school days if:

•   The failure was due to school closings that occurred before April 20, 2013.

• The school closings were due to conditions outside the control of school       authorities, such as severe storms, fires, epidemics, utility power unavailability, water or sewer failure, or health conditions.

• The school district provided at least the minimum number of hours of pupil instruction.

Districts that use this exception must report the amount of instructional time lost due to closures, the amount of instructional time added to compensate, activities and subject areas addressed during the added time, and other information needed to assess whether the additional instruction was appropriate to the state to the Department of Education by July 1.