Effective 28 Aug 2019

171.031. Board to prepare calendar — minimum term — opening dates — exemptions. — 1. Each school board shall prepare annually a calendar for the school term, specifying the opening date, days of planned attendance, and providing a minimum term of at least one hundred seventy-four days for schools with a five-day school week or one hundred forty-two days for schools with a four-day school week, and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance. In school year 2019-20 and subsequent years, one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance shall be required for the school term with no minimum number of school days. In addition, such calendar shall include six make-up days for possible loss of attendance due to inclement weather as defined in subsection 1 of section 171.033. In school year 2019-20 and subsequent years, such calendar shall include thirty-six make-up hours for possible loss of attendance due to inclement weather, as defined in subsection 1 of section 171.033, with no minimum number of make-up days.

2. Each local school district may set its opening date each year, which date shall be no earlier than fourteen calendar days prior to the first Monday in September. No public school district shall select an earlier start date unless, for calendars for school years before school year 2020-21, the district follows the procedure set forth in subsection 3 of this section. The procedure set forth in subsection 3 of this section shall be unavailable to school districts in preparing their calendars for school year 2020-21 and for subsequent years.

3. For calendars for school years before school year 2020-21, a district may set an opening date that is more than fourteen calendar days prior to the first Monday in September only if the local school board first gives public notice of a public meeting to discuss the proposal of opening school on a date more than fourteen days prior to the first Monday in September, and the local school board holds said meeting and, at the same public meeting, a majority of the board votes to allow an earlier opening date. If all of the previous conditions are met, the district may set its opening date more than fourteen calendar days prior to the first Monday in September. The condition provided in this subsection must be satisfied by the local school board each year that the board proposes an opening date more than fourteen days before the first Monday in September.

4. If any local district violates the provisions of this section, the department of elementary and secondary education shall withhold an amount equal to one quarter of the state funding the district generated under section 163.031 for each date the district was in violation of this section.

5. The provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section shall not apply to school districts in which school is in session for twelve months of each calendar year.

6. The state board of education may grant an exemption from this section to a school district that demonstrates highly unusual and extenuating circumstances justifying exemption from the provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section. Any exemption granted by the state board of education shall be valid for one academic year only.

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(L. 1963 p. 200 § 11-3, A.L. 1973 H.B. 158, A.L. 1983 S.B. 39, A.L. 1984 H.B. 1456 & 1197, A.L. 1987 S.B. 23, A.L. 1992 S.B. 485, A.L. 1993 S.B. 194, A.L. 2003 S.B. 686, A.L. 2007 S.B. 64, A.L. 2009 S.B. 291, A.L. 2018 H.B. 1606 merged with S.B. 743, A.L. 2019 H.B. 604)