Washington state public school district moves to 4-day week over budget shortfall

( Post Millennial )

The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has approved a major calendar shift for Finley School District in Benton County, allowing students a permanent three-day weekend starting in the 2025–26 school year. The small, rural district will become the only one in the Tri-Cities area to operate on a four-day school week — a move designed to close a growing $1 million budget gap.

Finley School District Superintendent Bryan Long said the district will monitor the effects of the new schedule, with a formal review scheduled for spring 2026. The state waiver allows Finley to continue the modified schedule through the 2027–28 academic year, depending on the results.

According to The Olympian, the change comes after voters in Finley rejected a $4.4 million local school levy in February, which would have sustained current district operations. In April, a reduced $3.45 million levy passed, but it included cuts to some athletic programs and staff positions. Had that second levy failed, Finley officials were prepared to eliminate sports entirely and implement deeper staff reductions.

Now, with OSPI’s approval, the district hopes to save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by reducing expenditures in substitute staffing, utilities, food services, and classified staffing.

Under the new schedule, students at Finley Elementary School will attend classes from 8:00 am to 3:10 pm, while students at Finley Middle School and River View High School will have slightly longer days, running from 7:55 am to 3:25 pm, to meet the state-mandated 1,027 instructional hours. Classes will run Monday through Thursday, with Fridays off.

Washington law typically requires school districts to operate for 180 days, but a special “economy and efficiency” waiver allows up to 30 small districts — with fewer than 1,000 full-time students — to meet hourly instruction requirements without adhering to the 180-day calendar. Finley becomes the 19th district statewide to implement this alternative calendar.

The shift in calendar comes as the OSPI is dealing with US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education (DOE) investigations into Washington state’s education policies, alleging they violate federal laws, including Title IX, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).

In April, federal officials accused the OSPI of coercing school districts into permitting male students who identify as female to compete on girls’ sports teams and access female restrooms and locker rooms or risk losing state funding. The DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights claims this enforcement may violate Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs.

The state’s current gender identity policies limit parental rights, specifically by prohibiting schools from informing parents of a student’s gender identity unless a formal records request is submitted. It also raises concerns that requiring students to disclose their pronouns without parental involvement may breach federal privacy protections.

Several school boards and districts, including Mead, Kennewick, Moses Lake, Eastmont, and Warden Joint Consolidated, reportedly filed complaints that led to the federal probe.