LITTLE ROCK (KFSM) – A legislative bill to allow schools to make up lost days by the hour passed the Arkansas House of Representatives on Thursday by a vote of 97-0.
The proposed law would allow school days to be made up in 60-minute increments instead of tacking days onto the end of the school year. House Bill 1313 now heads to the Senate for final approval before possibly going to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.
The bill was introduced Feb. 9 by Rep. Charlotte Douglas, R-Alma. The House Education Committee approved it Tuesday and sent it to the House. No House members voted against the measure, although three abstained from voting Thursday—Rep. Eddie Armstrong, D-North Little Rock; Rep. David Fielding, D-Magnolia; Rep. Jeremy Gilliam, R-Judsonia.
Alma Supt. David Woolly said the bill would give school districts more options when dealing with snow days and school days lost to illness or emergency circumstances.
“Nobody wants to be in school on Saturday,” Woolly said. “Nobody wants to be in school in June, so it becomes a difficult decision, ‘What’s the best way that we can have a productive day of education?’”
Woolly said Douglas approached school districts for advice on the measure before presenting it to the state Legislature.
