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In a TV interview recently, Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindel Fields dropped a policy idea that raised a few eyebrows: increasing the number of school days.
When asked about the number of instructional days on KFOR’s Flash Point, Fields pointed out that Oklahoma requires 15 days fewer than most states.
“When you think about where we rank, and how much we go to school, I wonder if there’s a correlation there,” Fields said.
Oklahoma technically requires 181 days per year, like most other states. But districts can be exempt from that minimum if they’re in session at least 1,086 hours and 166 days per year (the Legislature increased these minimums by one day starting this school year.)
Schools’ minimum days is worth a discussion, he said, considering how to pay for it, and how to prioritize it.
Another policy issue Fields weighed in on recently is literacy-based retention, which Oklahoma had in place until 2024. NonDoc has that story.
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— Jennifer Palmer
Editor’s note: The minimum school calendar increased slightly to 181 days or 1,086 hours and 166 days in 2025-26. This story has been updated.
Recommended Reading
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- Just months after a legal case involving a proposed Catholic charter school was resolved, a Florida-based Jewish charter school foundation has told the Statewide Charter School Board it plans to apply for authorization to establish a religious-based virtual charter school in Oklahoma to open for the 2026-27 school year. [The Oklahoman]
- American classrooms have been transformed by screens in the last five years, with most students, of all ages, now learning on computers or tablets during the school day. [The New York Times]
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