Currently, 83 Texas schools have adopted a four-day school week, affecting over 96,000 students. Four-day school weeks increase student attendance, save schools money, attract more teachers, and reduce CO2 emissions. All Texas schools should adopt a four-day school week.

In 2015, Texas lawmakers passed a bill allowing school districts to decide how many school days they may have. Before this bill was passed, schools were required to have a minimum of 180 school days; now, they need a minimum of 75,600 instructional minutes. As long as a school district meets the minimum number of minutes, it does not matter how many school days they have.

According to a study by Oregon State University students, schools that provided a four-day instructional week had significantly lower bullying and fighting rates. The study said that schools that switched to a four-day week had a 39% decrease in bullying and a 31% decrease in fighting. These decreases alone could encourage students who have been bullied to come to school for at least four days a week.

A study by the Edweek Research Center shows that two-thirds of teachers, principals, and school district leaders would be more likely to accept a job offer at a school that provides a four-day school week. School districts could hire highly qualified teachers with more teachers willing to accept jobs. Educators are leaving the profession and suffering from burnout, so more schools are adopting this model. Four-day weeks would attract and retain educators.

School districts nationwide spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on utilities, water consumption, meals, and cafeteria expenses. A four-day school week would drastically reduce these costs, allowing the money to go to school events, city expenses or new construction.

Some may argue that students forget what they have been taught over a three-day weekend. To combat this opinion, schools offer free tutoring to students who struggle with retaining information.

There are pros and cons to having a four-day school week, but the pros outweigh the cons, and all Texas schools should alter their calendars to fit a four-day school week.