171.031. Board to prepare calendar--minimum term--opening dates--exemptions--hour limitation. - Missouri Statutes

Board to prepare calendar--minimum term--openingdates--exemptions--hour limitation.

171.031. 1. Each school board shall prepare annually a calendar forthe school term, specifying the opening date and providing a minimum termof at least one hundred seventy-four days for schools with a five-dayschool week or one hundred forty-two days for schools with a four-dayschool week, and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance.In addition, such calendar shall include six make-up days for possible lossof attendance due to inclement weather as defined in subsection 1 ofsection 171.033.

2. Each local school district may set its opening date each year,which date shall be no earlier than ten calendar days prior to the firstMonday in September. No public school district shall select an earlierstart date unless the district follows the procedure set forth insubsection 3 of this section.

3. A district may set an opening date that is more than ten calendardays prior to the first Monday in September only if the local school boardfirst gives public notice of a public meeting to discuss the proposal ofopening school on a date more than ten days prior to the first Monday inSeptember, and the local school board holds said meeting and, at the samepublic meeting, a majority of the board votes to allow an earlier openingdate. If all of the previous conditions are met, the district may set itsopening date more than ten calendar days prior to the first Monday inSeptember. The condition provided in this subsection must be satisfied bythe local school board each year that the board proposes an opening datemore than ten days before the first Monday in September.

4. If any local district violates the provisions of this section, thedepartment of elementary and secondary education shall withhold an amountequal to one quarter of the state funding the district generated undersection 163.031, RSMo, for each date the district was in violation of thissection.

5. The provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section shall notapply to school districts in which school is in session for twelve monthsof each calendar year.

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

7. No school day for schools with a five-day school week shall belonger than seven hours except for vocational schools which may adopt aneight-hour day in a metropolitan school district and a school district in afirst class county adjacent to a city not within a county, and any schoolthat adopts a four-day school week in accordance with section 171.029.

(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)