Fort Worth ISD's school day will be 15 minutes longer next year

Fort Worth ISD adds 15 minutes to the school day

Students in the Fort Worth school district will have longer school days for 30 extra learning hours next year. It's all part of a new calendar to meet state requirements.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Students in Fort Worth public schools will have longer days next year.

Fort Worth Independent School District trustees approved adding 30 learning hours to the 2022-2023 school year. That will extend every school day by 15 minutes.

Pre-K and elementary school students will stay later in the afternoons. Middle and high school students will start classes earlier.

The change is in response to a new state law requiring more learning time for students who fail the STAAR test. The added hours will give those students a chance to catch up.

Fort Worth ISD Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar said there will even be some added instruction for them after school hours like Saturday Learning Quest.

"They'll have also interventions built in during the school day, after school tutoring and before school tutoring. So we're not going to be able to do it all just during the school day. We don't want to do it all during the school day. That's not something extra we want to put on our teachers only," she said.

Molinar is planning to recommend a 4% raise for teachers to go along with the longer workday. She hopes the school board will approve that in upcoming budget discussions.

Fort Worth ISD’s new calendar also adds more teacher preparation and gets rid of bad weather make-up days.

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