ST. LOUIS – Missouri schools may call for snow days on Wednesday and Thursday this week, following a major January snowstorm that shut down some districts for an entire week. As snow days pile up, some schools could be scrambling to make up lost time to meet state requirements.

When a Missouri public school district or charter school closes due to inclement weather, the decision is made with careful consideration of state laws. Every year, schools that qualify for state funding are required by law to meet a minimum number of instructional hours.

For quite some time, Missouri law has required public school districts and charter schools to provide at least 1,044 instructional hours each school year. New this school year, however, is a provision that requires a minimum of 169 school days to meet criteria for additional funding, a condition that former Gov. Mike Parson signed into law last year.

The legislation, approved as Senate Bill 727 last year, requires schools to meet both the 1,044-hour and 169-day requirements unless they operate on a state-approved four-day school week. Districts that comply will receive extra funding: 1% for the school terms in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, then 2% in fiscal years 2028 and beyond.

If a school district falls short of the required days and hours, they will not be eligible for additional funding. That said, there are several ways that Missouri schools can prepare for challenges posed by snow days, including the possibility of adding extra days to the end of a school year.

One big consideration is that to account for weather disruptions, Missouri schools must include at least 36 make-up hours in their calendars, roughly 5-6 extra days to offset closures. As a result, many districts already build schedules with 174-175 school days, ensuring they can absorb snow days while still meeting state requirements.

If closures exceed the built-in snow days, districts must extend the academic year to make up lost time. Having the flexibility of built-in snow days, in theory, could help schools stay on track with state mandates while maintaining their planned academic calendar.

Additionally, some schools are turning to virtual learning days, which the state recognizes as alternative methods of instruction (AMI) days, to combat snow day disruptions. When schools use an AMI day, it generally counts as a regular school day, allowing schools to claim attendance hours if students complete assigned lessons within designated timeframes.

Missouri law allows schools to claim up to 36 hours of AMI time toward their required instructional hours, provided that Missouri DESE pre-approved the school’s plan.

In a previous report, FOX 2 found that most Missouri schools can account for up to 96 hours of weather-related disruptions by:

• Building in snow days to take throughout the year into an upcoming school year’s calendar.
• Planning up for 5-6 make-up days and adding them to the school year calendar as necessary.
• Using AMI days for some closures to reduce the need for some in-person make-up days.
• Following state guidelines to make up additional time (up to 60 missed hours) before DESE considers waiving extra snow days.