Is the four-day school week inevitable? Why more Texas districts are headed that way | Opinion

Radio talk show topics can be peculiar things. I can bring up five stories at the beginning of a given day’s show, and one of them can catch enough instant fire that the others fall by the wayside. And it’s not always a dominant news story that grabs such attention.

Such was the case this week amid broad attention to stories ranging from the Trump Cabinet meeting to worrisome measles cases to anticipation surrounding the Epstein files. Having touched on all three, I dipped into my list of items that caught the corner of my eye and mentioned that in Denton County, the Ponder ISD has joined the Texas districts opting for a four-day week. I wondered aloud who might like that and who might not, and a wave of calls rolled in with answers.

For the rest of the show, Trump could have annexed Cuba and I’m not sure the reactions would have reached me. Teachers weighed in; parents commented; folks whose kids were grown assessed what such a move says about society and where we are all headed.

The bottom line: It’s really popular, and the expectations are that the trend will only spread.

More than 100 of the state’s over 1,200 school districts have moved to a four-day week, most citing the benefit of attracting more teachers. A natural curmudgeonly instinct swelled in me as I learned this, and I asked: Is this where we are? Has the five-day work week that has been around forever suddenly become too burdensome in the modern day?

That’s part of it. But a more frequent theme I heard that day was the difficulty districts are having attracting and keeping teachers. In decades of discussing the heroic work of teachers, the topic arises constantly of whether they “make enough,” with a guaranteed reference to star athletes making literally hundreds of times more than the teachers so vital to our kids’ lives.

That’s obviously not how the marketplace works. Thousands of people don’t pay high ticket prices to watch Mrs. Johnson diagram sentences. The truth has always been that if every teacher’s job is filled in a district, that district’s salaries are right where they should be.

But that’s increasingly not the case today. Teaching is a calling, requiring a particular heart for service that has earned the profession its proper high regard. I heard from teachers who are beaten down (sometimes literally) by discipline problems, repelled by increasing political battles, and simply unable to keep pace with the recently ailing economy.

School districts aren’t exactly brimming with extra money, so what do they have that might attract and retain new talent? A three- day weekend. Every weekend.

The Ponder ISD news release heralding its decision to switch anticipates “several benefits from the new schedule, including improved teacher recruitment and retention, increased student engagement, and enhanced work-life balance for both staff and students,” adding: “Studies on the four-day school week suggest potential advantages in attendance, discipline, and overall school satisfaction.”

Well, who can throw shade at that? The “work-life balance” reference smacks of a softening societal work ethic, but the school days get longer in this trade-off, and no one can accuse teachers of choosing a job known for its relaxed idleness.

What about the challenge for parents who will shoulder additional child-care costs? Ponder will offer child care on Fridays when the new schedule kicks in. The 30 minutes added to each day doesn’t quite balance an entire day removed from each week, so the new school start date will move up to Aug. 6, to meet the state requirement of 1,260 instructional hours per year. The first nine weeks will retain the five-day structure before the four-day rhythm begins in October.

The first Texas school district to make the four-day switch was the Olfen ISD in rural Runnells County, 200 miles southwest of Fort Worth, in 2016. Little did anyone know the trend that would sweep across the prairie, finding favor first in smaller communities but then extending to suburban enclaves orbiting many of our larger cities.

So, will students across Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and smaller metro areas follow suit? Not all solutions have equal appeal in every setting, but one imagines a certain universal allure toward a practice with the potential to reduce teacher burnout, bolster recruitment, improve student attendance and probably save a few dollars in the process.

Mark Davis hosts a morning radio show in Dallas-Fort Worth on 660-AM and at 660amtheanswer.com. Follow him on X: @markdavis.

This story was originally published March 1, 2025 at 5:28 AM.