Why It Matters
Indiana has established formal criteria that schools must satisfy before transitioning to a four-day instructional week, raising the bar for a scheduling model that hundreds of districts nationwide have already adopted. The new standards, which took effect July 1, require schools seeking the shift to demonstrate academic performance, maintain teacher compensation, and provide supplemental learning opportunities on the days students would normally be absent.
What Happened
House Enrolled Act 1266 imposed four minimum requirements that Indiana schools must meet before earning approval from the State Board of Education to operate on a four-day schedule. Schools must achieve an “A” grade under the state’s A-F accountability model, pay teachers at least $45,000 annually, offer transportation for families choosing to keep students in a traditional five-day format, and provide free enrichment and remedial programming on non-instructional days.
The Indiana Department of Education recently issued guidance to schools outlining these criteria. The move comes as Vinton Elementary School in the Lafayette area enters its third and final year operating under a flexibility waiver that allowed the school to pilot the four-day model. Vinton, which enrolls 408 students, currently operates Monday through Thursday, with classes running from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., meeting the state’s required 54,000 minutes of annual instruction across 151 days instead of the typical 180.
Principal Cindy Preston said the school applied for the initial waiver to make the district more attractive to families. According to Preston, the school has not yet achieved an A grade: “We’re a high-poverty school. We’re about 80–85% poverty, so hitting that mark is very hard. This will be my 15th year as principal here, and we’ve never reached that.”
Vinton currently meets two of the four standards—teacher salaries and transportation. The school offers a YMCA daycare program on Fridays, though few students participate. Preston is exploring options for providing free on-site enrichment and remedial programming to meet the fourth requirement.
By the Numbers
4 — minimum requirements schools must satisfy under House Enrolled Act 1266
$45,000 — annual minimum teacher salary threshold
54,000 — minutes of instruction required annually
151 — instructional days at Vinton Elementary versus 180 in a traditional schedule
408 — Vinton Elementary’s student enrollment
89% — third graders passing spring assessments last year, compared to 73% when the school operated on a five-day schedule
293 — student disciplinary referrals last school year, down from 495 before the pilot
398 — staff absences annually after the pilot began, compared to 656 before
Zoom Out
Four-day school weeks have grown across the United States as rural and some suburban districts seek budget relief and operational efficiencies. The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates approximately 850 school districts nationwide now operate on four-day schedules. Research suggests such schedules can generate 0.4% to 2.5% average annual budget savings, though studies on academic outcomes remain mixed.
Indiana’s new standards represent an effort to attach measurable performance conditions to the model before broader adoption. The criteria reflect concern that scheduling changes alone do not address underlying resource constraints in under-resourced schools. Vinton’s experience—serving a community where 80–85% of students live in poverty—illustrates the challenge: even with operational gains, schools in high-need areas face steep hurdles to meet state achievement benchmarks.
What’s Next
Vinton Elementary will complete its third pilot year under the current waiver before the new standards take full effect. The school must decide whether to pursue formal approval under the new criteria or return to a five-day schedule. For other Indiana districts considering the four-day model, the State Board of Education will now evaluate applications against the four standards outlined in House Enrolled Act 1266, making approval contingent on demonstrated academic performance and adequate resource allocation rather than scheduling flexibility alone.