Liberty Hill ISD has proposed additional academic calendar options that would allow students to attend class four days a week.

At a Jan. 22 meeting, district officials presented two new potential calendars for the 2025-26 school year after receiving community feedback.

What parents should know

In December, LHISD surveyed over 2,400 community members and staff on two calendar options:
  • Calendar A: 168 school days from Aug. 13 to May 21
  • Calendar B: 165 school days from Aug. 12 to May 28
Calendar B features several planning and professional development days for staff on Mondays, during which students would not attend school.

After receiving feedback on Calendars A and B, district officials created two additional calendar options:Under Calendar B+, students would not attend school during staff development days held on several Fridays as opposed to Mondays. For Calendar C, students would attend school for four days with Fridays off for staff development days most weeks, except in August and May, according to the calendar.


A closer look

LHISD would need to add at least five minutes to the school day to have additional makeup days under Calendar B and meet the number of required instructional minutes under Calendar C, Chief of Schools Travis Motal said.

Calendar C includes no early release days, so the district would have to add an additional 15-20 minutes to the school day to continue releasing students early on testing days.

Some board members expressed concerns about how adding minutes to the school day would impact students and teachers.


The impact

The district’s survey found that more people strongly disagreed with Calendar B due to having to support kids at home during the school week. Some parents shared that it would be more convenient to take off from work or work from home on Fridays instead of Mondays, Motal said.

LHISD plans to continue providing free child care for staff members and may consider offering child care for parents, which could be difficult to provide due to needing people to support the program, Motal said. The district has looked at child care options through third-party providers, such as the YMCA, he said.

A a Dec. 16 meeting, several board members voiced their support for a four-day school week as a way to save costs amid the district’s projected $7.5 million budget shortfall. At the Jan. 22 meeting, Motal said the district would likely see minimal cost savings but could cut expenses from transportation.


Something to note

Other similarly sized school districts with innovative calendars, such as four-day school weeks, have observed the following benefits, Motal said:
  • Recruiting high-quality teachers
  • Additional planning time for teachers and staff helps offset the demands of the profession
  • Increases in student engagement and attendance
  • Favor from parents after implementation despite concerns in the beginning
Some districts have shared concerns over scheduling and having less staff days to prepare before school begins. Most districts hosted time on Fridays for students to recover credit and make up work, he said.

Next steps

LHISD’s District Education Improvement Committee will review the calendar options and present a recommendation to the board of trustees for approval in February.