To repeal section 171.031, RSMo 1994, relating to school term starting dates, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:

     Section A. Section 171.031, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 171.031, to read as follows:

     171.031. 1. Each school board shall prepare annually a calendar for the school term, specifying the opening date and providing a minimum term of at least one hundred seventy-four days and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance. [The opening date shall not be earlier than the first day of September, except:

     (1) If the first day of September falls on Labor Day or a Saturday or Sunday, the school board in any school district may move the starting day for that term to a subsequent school day;

     (2) In school districts in which schools are in session for twelve months of each calendar year; and

     (3) In school districts in which the school board determines students are needed for agricultural production purposes.]

     2. No school day shall be longer than seven hours except for vocational schools which may adopt an eight-hour day in a metropolitan school district and a school district in a first class county adjacent to a city not within a county.