A proposal in Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget could reportedly make Wisconsin the only state with no law aimed at guaranteeing students a minimum number of hours and days of instruction.
The budget plan calls for ending Wisconson’s minimum requirements — 437 hours for kindergarten, 1,050 hours for elementary schools and 1,137 hours for secondary schools — and letting districts do what they want in terms of seat hours for students, the The Washington Post reported.
Districts and schools would then be judged on state report cards produced annually by the Department of Public Instruction, based largely on standardized test scores, the Post reported.
“For us, it’s about eliminating the mandate,” Walker told the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel last week. “I want to give maximum flexibility to districts.”
The plan lines up with school reformers like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos who want school choice as a top educational priority – including an increase in digital learning that allows students do work on the computer when they want and take as long as they need, the Post reported.
But some worry taking away the baseline for instructional hours could have unintended consequences, especially in districts where many students are struggling, the Journal Sentinel reported.
Most states require 180 days of student instruction, and most specify the minimum amount of time that constitutes an instructional day, according to the Education Commission of the States.
The number of hours in instructional days vary significantly by state, the Post reported.
