Hays CISD elementary schools will begin class 10 minutes earlier beginning Jan. 5. Whereas before this school year the minimum time students needed to be in school was measured in days, a new state law measures instruction time in minutes. That gives districts the option of stocking up on instruction time to avoid having to make up time lost to inclement weather delays and cancellations, HCISD Spokesperson Tim Savoy said. “I’m not a morning person myself, and so I know that’s a challenge to get up earlier,” Savoy said. He said because the same buses used to transport middle and high school students are used to transport elementary school students, adding the instruction to time to the end of the day was not an option. That would have meant adjusting middle and high school schedules as well. Because high schools and middle schools have banked 1,750 and 2,625 minutes, respectively, this year, a change in their start and dismissal times is not necessary. Savoy said the elementary schools will have banked 980 minutes by the end of the spring semester, which equals two full school days with time left over. “That will give us a good amount of time so that if we have inclement weather we would not have to make that up,” he said. He said inclement weather delays and cancellations have in the past caused districts to have to drag school days later into the month of June, when school typically lets out for the year. This will prevent having to make up days after the scheduled last day of school, he said. Savoy said campuses will waive tardies for the first two weeks as parents adjust to the new start times.