Ohio students and teachers may need to begin preparing for an additional two weeks of school.
Legislation recently introduced by Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House would stretch the current school year by 53 hours, increasing from the current 1,001 to 1054.
That would move the state back to 160 days of instruction, still below the 180 days required a little more than a decade ago. The 1,054 would also be below Kentucky’s 1,062 hours, Michigan’s 1,098 and Texas’ 1,260.
Recess and cafeteria time is not counted as instructional time.
Rep. Adam Bird, R-Cincinnati, a former teacher, principal and superintendent, believes putting students in front of teachers more would impact test scores and overall academics.
“Time matters. The more time students spend in meaningful learning, the better they are going to perform academically, the better they are going to perform socially and the more they are going to bring those soft skills to employment,” Bird said. “One-thousand-fifty-four does not get us back to where we were, but this helps stop the decline.”
The Center Square was unsuccessful getting comment from the Ohio Education Association.
The bill would not mandate how systems add the additional hours, but Bird and Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, said an increased number of teacher work days, longer breaks, field trips and other things – like the recently passed law that allows for religious release time during the school day – have cut into the time students spend with teachers.
“We continue to move down this path of allowing additional release time, not only for religion but 4-H experience and for things that are valid,” Bird said. “Time matters. Time in front of a teacher matters. I think parents will love this bill. Parents understand that time at school is imperative to getting the best education possible.”
Bird and Williams, who don’t expect the legislation to be in place for the 2025-26 school year, also said they plan to offer an amendment that would make sure the legislation would not conflict with any current collective bargaining agreements.
The two also believe most districts throughout the state are at the 1,054-hour mark, but neither knew exactly how many.
“Schools could extend the school day a little, one less field trip, one less professional development day,” Williams said. “We don’t have to add weeks, months at the end of the school year where we would add more costs. What we care about is education outcomes. We see that Ohio is lagging behind our competitive peers not only in the Midwest but across the nation and the world. We don’t want to see schools continue to take advantage of continuing policies from COVID times.”
