OKLAHOMA CITY — A recent state law doubling children’s recess time could have unexpected consequences for Oklahoma public schools.
Some districts announced they are lengthening their school day while others are weighing whether to add days to their school calendars to accommodate the new law. Further complicating the matter is a recent notice from the Oklahoma State Department of Education that it will phase out a policy of allowing recess to count toward a school’s instructional hours.
That would drop districts like Granite Public Schools from above the minimum length of a school year to below, Superintendent Missy Berry said. Her southwest Oklahoma district would have to add time to each school day to make up the difference, even though Granite already provides 40 minutes of daily recess.
“I think the biggest problem with it is making (recess) non-instructional. If it was just, ‘Let them play for 20 more minutes,’ I don’t think it would be that big of a deal,” Berry said. “But (with) this deal, you’re changing everything on a schedule. You’re changing the entire school day.”
Senate Bill 1481, which took effect Wednesday, raised the minimum daily length of recess for kindergarten through fifth grade from 20 minutes to 40 minutes. Schools will be permitted to split recess into multiple segments or provide it in one 40-minute period.
When issuing guidance for how to implement the law, state Superintendent Lindel Fields informed district leaders that recess no longer would count toward the 1,086 instructional hours that make up a school year.
In the coming 2026-27 academic year, 20 of the 40 recess minutes won’t count as instructional time while the other 20 minutes can, Fields wrote in a June 19 letter to districts. By 2027-28, all 40 minutes must be considered non-instructional.
SB 1481 “is silent” on whether recess should be considered instructional time, but the new law specifically separates recess from physical education instruction, according to a legal memo the Education Department’s general counsel issued June 29. State law also defines the school year as a minimum number of days or hours of classroom instruction, the memo states.
Taken together, these statutes mean “the Legislature did not intend for recess to count towards required instructional minutes,” general counsel Jacki Phelps wrote.
For years, the agency allowed schools to count recess as instructional time, so the change caught school leaders by surprise, especially so close to the start of the next academic year, said Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore.
Seifried, who wrote the recess law, said she is supportive of the Education Department’s policy change but appreciated Fields giving districts more flexibility in the short term. She said she’s committed to examining the issue further in the 2027 legislative session, which begins in February.
“Philosophically, I think recess shouldn’t count as instructional time,” Seifried said. “If you ask somebody on the street, an average person, is recess instructional time, they’re going to say no.”
Seifried’s bill expanding recess was overwhelmingly popular in the state Legislature this year. It passed the Senate unanimously and received only one opposing vote in the House before earning the governor’s signature.
Her House co-author, Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid, said the added recess time would give children more opportunity to play, expend excess energy and socially interact with their peers. The ultimate goal, he said, is to “increase their ability to focus when they’re in the classroom,” especially as lawmakers add more rigorous requirements for academic performance.
Increasing the number of days students spend in school has been another priority at the state Capitol. Starting in the 2027-28 academic year, the minimum school year will increase by seven days for districts using an hours-based calendar.
“I think our students would benefit from increased instructional time, so while that wasn’t the primary goal of this specific piece of (recess) legislation, I don’t think that that is necessarily a bad outcome, if that’s how districts choose to adopt it,” Caldwell said.
Western Oklahoma districts of Minco and Cashion have announced expanded school day hours. Western Heights Public Schools is starting its school year earlier and could add more days at the end of the academic year to meet recess requirements, Superintendent Brayden Savage told Oklahoma Voice.
Students up to fourth grade in Deer Creek Public Schools already spend 40 minutes each day on the playground. Although it’s a play period, it still holds instructional value, said Superintendent Jason Perez, a former elementary teacher and principal.
Deer Creek should be able to weather the next school year without having to make significant scheduling changes, he said.
Once all 40 recess minutes must be counted as non-instructional, though, the district will have to find a way to add about 35 more hours of instructional time to the school year.
“I don’t know where that comes from at that point,” Perez said. “Then, we’re talking about having to add days.”
For Oklahoma City Public Schools, changes will be more immediate. The district offers 20-25 minutes of recess per day for elementary students, so schedules will have to be adjusted this school year to reach 40 minutes.
The district’s chief of schools, Alisha Suffield, said administrators are considering adding minutes to each school day to fulfill the requirement.
Oklahoma City schools have a shorter instructional day than some neighboring districts, Suffield said. Keeping students in school longer each day could benefit families who lack quality after-school-care options, and it’s an opportunity to add more instructional time, too, she said.
But, any schedule changes will have “a major ripple effect” across Oklahoma City, the state’s second-largest district. Suffield said district leaders are having to consider when and how long lunch would have to be, who will supervise students during the extra recess time, and whether middle and high schools should similarly lengthen their school days to match the elementary hours.
The district’s complex transportation schedules will have to change, as well.
“Kids (are) getting home late, which means drivers are going home late, which means teachers are going home late,” Suffield said. “So, all of those factors have to be considered before we just make a blanket decision.”
Any adjustments to teachers’ working hours and school start times would have to be negotiated with the labor union representing the district’s educators, the Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers.
OKC-AFT President Torie Luster Pennington said those discussions already are ongoing, and the union’s expectation is school employees would be compensated for any extra time spent at work.
Oklahoma City Board of Education member Juan Lecona will not only have to vote on the district’s scheduling plan, but also implement it into his family’s daily routine. His daughter, Itzel, will see her recess time increase once she starts first grade in August.
To Itzel, doubling recess is “the coolest thing ever,” he said, but to Lecona, the extra play period is “a waste of time away from teaching the kids.”
“Kids have to go out and play, but let’s focus on reading,” he said. “I truly believe the extra 20 minutes they want to use for the second recess is not really necessary. I’d rather be hitting the books and doing math problems.”
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.