St. Louis County School District going to 4-day weeks

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) - A northern Minnesota school district will go to a four-day school week starting this fall.

The district faces a budget challenge due to a decline in enrollment. 

School days increasing

What we know:

School days will be 34 minutes longer for students in the St. Louis County School District. The idea of four-day school weeks has been thrown around in the state for quite some time. Now the district has to prepare for students to hit the books one less day. 

"So we are looking at an additional 34 minutes a day, 10 minutes in the morning from our schedule now, and 24 minutes in the afternoon," said Superintendent Dr. Reggie Engebritson. 

The Different Requirements

What they're saying:

Longer hours mean 149 school days instead of 170.  The state standard for a five-day school week is 165. There just has to be 1020 hours of instruction. Teacher pay in District 2142 will stay the same.

"We know how to provide the curriculum and the instruction and to keep kids engaged," said Engebritson. 

The superintendent says this will save them $500,000. The district will also offer childcare on Fridays for kids pre-Kindergarten to age 12, but families will have to pay for it. That cost has yet to be determined.

"We're estimating a $1.5 million budget cut this year, and we had to cut staff so we would not be able to pay, you know, or offer free school-age care," said Engebritson. 

The district hopes this will also help recruit teachers.

Poll on X

What do you think?:

 We asked people on X how they would feel if their school district switched to a four-day school week, 47.4% support it, 41.4% are against it, and 11.2% are unsure.