The rise of the four-day school week

The number of Louisiana school districts shifting to four-day weeks has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, nearly a quarter of districts operate on shortened schedules. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Charles Lussier explains how four-day weeks can be a valuable teacher-recruitment tool:

In a December 2023 poll, Education Week found that two-thirds of the educators responding would be more willing to accept a job offer from a district that operated under a four-day work week. … Megan Phillips, principal of Jackson Elementary School, used to oppose a four-day week, but now supports the idea. “The reason I’m in favor this time (of a 4-day week) is the very last time I had 100% certified teachers was the last year before the change,” Phillips said. “I did not fully understand how powerful it was for teacher recruitment.”

While four-day weeks would be a welcome development for teachers, they could also create new complications for working parents, who would need an additional day of child care.  

Wyoming wants to invest federal rural health funds

Wyoming will receive $205 million annually over the next five years from a $50 billion fund to address rural health issues, which was included in the federal tax and budget megabill. Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News explains how Equality State lawmakers have proposed legislation to make their five-year allocation last ‘forever’:   

Wyoming’s Rural Health Transformation Perpetuity fund could provide $28.5 million for the state to spend every year, according to materials presented to lawmakers. … The legislation says Wyoming would put 80% of this year’s award — $164 million — and 69.5% of the funding it receives over the next four years into the fund. The state treasurer’s office would invest the fund in equities, including stocks. The health department plans to spend 4% of the fund’s money — in line with its expected return — each year, according to materials presented to lawmakers. 

The funding included in the Rural Health Transformation Program won’t be enough to offset the megabill’s estimated $137 billion cut to federal Medicaid spending in rural areas over the next decade. The federal government has not approved Wyoming’s plan for its rural health fund dollars. 

A new mortgage crisis for those who can least afford it 

The share of low-income Americans who are more than 90 days late on their mortgage is increasing, according to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The 90-plus-day mortgage delinquency rate for families in the lowest-income bracket was up to nearly 3% at the end of 2025, compared to just 0.5% in 2021. The Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary explains how rising mortgage delinquency rates are the latest sign of a growing financial divide: 

Meanwhile, folks in the highest-income areas are doing just fine, maintaining “historically lower delinquency rates.” It’s another reminder that the U.S. economy is largely benefiting people with means, while financial storm clouds are gathering over those who can least afford a rainy day. As the New York Fed points out, “financial distress appears to be deepening for households in lower-income areas.” … The data on lower-income delinquency rates could very well be the canary in the coal mine for a potential broader economic slowdown.

Farm bill proposal ignores unfolding food assistance crisis

The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture released a draft of a farm bill last week. The multi-year law authorizes funding and sets the rules for federal agriculture and food programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains how the proposal ignores massive food assistance cuts that were included in the harmful federal megabill:

Last year, 47.9 million people lived in households that struggled with food insecurity, and millions will see their food assistance cut substantially or terminated altogether as the full brunt of the Republican megabill’s SNAP cuts take effect. The House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill proposal ignores the urgent need to address this harm. Families across the country are already feeling the impacts of the nearly $187 billion in SNAP cuts enacted through the Republican megabill last July — a roughly 20 percent cut, representing the deepest cut in history.

Number of the Day

45.3% – Share of U.S. consumer spending by people age 55 and over in 2025. (Source: Axios)