The Guam Department of Education is looking to the Guam Legislature to waive the 180 instructional day requirement. Bill 312-38, introduced by Committee on Education Chair, Senator Vince Borja, would exempt GDOE from the 180-day instructional day requirement or its equivalence for School Year 2025-2026 due to the impacts of Super Typhoon Sinlaku.

The bill comes from a request for legislative action from GDOE Superintendent Dr. Judi Won Pat, who said Guam's public schools lost six instructional days due to the super typhoon.

Dr. Won Pat, who is officially the superintendent for GDOE as her contract was signed by both Attorney General Doug Moylan and Governor Lou Leon Guerrero earlier this week, tells lawmakers that at this stage in the academic calendar recovering lost time is not operationally feasible.

To meet the requirement schools would need to extend the instructional day by more than 90 minutes over the remaining weeks, violating the collective bargaining agreement, which limits teacher duty hours, and would disrupt established schedules for students and families.

The superintendent added the extended schedule would violate Section 2.A.2 of the CBA, which limits the duty day to seven hours for secondary teachers and six hours for elementary teachers.

According to Dr. Won Pat, extending the school year beyond May 21 would result in an estimated $3 million in additional personnel costs for just five days, and may be higher for schools that experienced extended closures.

Dr. Won Pat said, "In consultation with the Guam Federation of Teachers, the department carefully considered all available options to recover instructional time. We determined that professional development day number eight, which is their last professional day for the year represents the final viable option for limited recovery without extending the school year. However, while system wide closures accounted for four days, several schools experienced additional localized closures and operational constraints requiring further adjustments."

Senator Borja, in a letter to Speaker Frank Blas, Jr. requesting for an emergency session on Bill 312-38, argues the proposed legislation must be enacted before May 19 to avoid extending the school year and imposing additional operational and financial costs.