Updated Jan. 16, 2026
While at least 31 states and the District of Columbia require 180 instructional days, the number of hours or minutes required within those days vary.
What is counted toward minimum school year or school day requirements also varies. For example, some states’ minimum school year requirements may specify whether things like non-student contact days or parent-teacher conferences are included. And some states exclude things like recess and/or lunch from hours-per-day calculations, while others may count it. Learn more about these variations in the full resource.
To provide timely assistance to our constituents, State Information Requests are typically completed in 48 hours. They reflect an issue scan versus a comprehensive analysis.
