Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona signed a bill into law on Tuesday requiring Hawaii’s school year to be no shorter than 190 instructional days beginning in 2015.

The current school year is 180 days long but was shortened to 163 during the 2009-2010 school year because of Furlough Fridays.

The law also requires a minimum number of instructional hours for students in the public school system. For the 2011-2013 school years it mandates:

• 915 instructional hours for elementary school students.
• 990 instructional hours for middle and high school students.

For the 2013-2015 school years it mandates 1,080 instructional hours for all K-12 public school students.

I’m curious if a mandated school year length would prevent a shortened school year in the event of further budget cuts.

Your thoughts on the upcoming 190-day school year? Talk about it in our ongoing education discussion.