Lakeland School District Eyes Four-Day Week Pilot for 2026-27

Sixty-one percent of Lakeland Joint School District parents who responded to a district survey want the district to consider a four-day school week, but the trustees who would approve such a change are pushing back hard, with one calling the proposal a distraction from the more urgent task of passing a supplemental levy.

Superintendent Rusty Taylor presented committee data and survey findings to the school board at a special March 3 meeting in Rathdrum, telling trustees he was confident the district could execute the change well. "I really feel, with all my heart knowing our administration, knowing our teachers, knowing our board, I think if we commit to this, we're going to be very good at it," Taylor said.

The survey numbers tell a complicated story. A total of 1,667 parents responded, with 1,007 (61%) in favor and 653 (39%) opposed. Staff also leaned toward the change: 341 of 523 respondents (65%) supported it, while 144 (28%) were opposed and 38 (7%) were undecided. High school students broke the other way sharply — 335 of 556 ninth- through 11th-grade respondents (60%) opposed the four-day schedule, with only 221 (40%) in favor.

Board members were not persuaded. Trustee Randi Bain said flatly, "I don't like it. I just really don't know what it does to the families in our district." Trustee Bob Jones was more pointed: "All the reasons that I hear for going to a four-day week really have very little to do with what's good for kids." He asked what parents with small children would do on the fifth day without school in session. Two other board members, unnamed in reports, described their reaction as stunned. "I'm shocked," one said. Another added, "I really don't understand why this is even on the table at this juncture."

Board Chair Michelle Thompson expressed concern that the four-day week discussion could pull focus away from the district's more immediate financial challenge: a $7.52 million levy election set for May. If approved, that levy would still represent a $2 million reduction from the previous year's budget. If it fails, the district would need to find a way to cover a $9.52 million shortfall through drastic reductions.

Superintendent Lisa Arnold, who was directed by trustees to gather information about the transition in a separate Wednesday evening meeting, framed the four-day week as one potential cost-saving tool among several the district must consider. According to her board agenda item request, the change could save between $500,000 and $1 million annually and might increase state funding tied to improved average daily attendance. Arnold said the levy's outcome would not resolve the budget pressure entirely. "I just know going into next year even with the levy passing we have to continue to look for ways to cut costs," she said.

Arnold also flagged a logistical wrinkle specific to Lakeland: what to do with students enrolled at Kootenai Technical Education Campus on the fifth day. She said she is fairly certain KTEC will move to a four-day schedule next school year regardless. "That causes us a little bit of a challenge," Arnold said of the scheduling conflict a Lakeland four-day week would create for those students.

The district would not be entering unfamiliar regional territory. Post Falls School District is already in its second year on a four-day calendar, and Coeur d'Alene School District releases students early on Fridays.

Taylor planned informational sessions with administrators across the district through Wednesday, with the pilot proposal expected to return as a formal action item at a 6 p.m. school board meeting. Additional details are available at sd272.org. The district's reporting contains a discrepancy in superintendent attribution across meetings — Taylor and Arnold are both identified as leading separate discussions — and the district has not yet publicly clarified the full timeline or confirmed final survey totals, which contain a seven-response arithmetic gap in reported parent figures.