The current school year of 990 instructional hours is too low, both for normal times and for recovering from learning loss.   We need to do better for our students.  At the very least, VA should raise that number to at least 1,080 hours and require that school divisions meet both the 180 day and 1,080 instructional hour standards to be accredited.

The 990 hour standard places Virginia in the bottom 10 of states.    The bottom 10.  The core part of learning is teachers teaching students.   Both teachers and students need to be in the classroom for this to happen.   School districts have an incentive to do the very minimum.  The state government needs to step in and make sure our kids get the time in school that they deserve.