Please Explain the Missouri School Year to Me

Factual Questions
1

Mrs. HeyHomie, a born-and-raised Show-Me girl, hasn’t set foot in a classroom in a Missouri public school in over a decade, so her memories on this were hazy.

Anyway, ISTR hearing that, according to the letter of the law, Missouri schools cannot start the school year until after Labor Day and must end it before Memorial Day. However, any school district can file a non-agricultural exemption, meaning that “our school district is not in an agricultural area, so we don’t need the longer summer and don’t have to follow the Labor-Day-to-Memorial-Day schedule.” Furthermore, only a small handful (like, less than ten) of Missouri school districts did not have the exemption, meaning that the law was essentially meaningless.

However, it’s been nearly five years since I’ve lived in Missouri, so I haven’t kept up with the laws. And all of the children in Missouri with whom I’m on a first name basis go to school from late August to early June, just like their brethren here in Illinois.

So what gives? Is this law still on the books? Was it ever? Or are my memories on this really whack?

2

I’ve lived in Missouri all my life and as a child I remember someone claiming such regulation, but I don’t know if it actually existed.

Here’s a site that gives the regulations and I don’t see any other than the local School Board setting the calendar:

http://www.moga.state.mo.us/STATUTES/C171.HTM

I also noticed one of the four school holidays is July 4, which seems to be unnecessary if the possible start/stop dates still exists.

At least in NW Mo this year it has generally been the rural schools that have opened first, then the more urban ones. My small rural district has been opened for two weeks, St. Joseph opened this week. I think KC schools were not open last week.