Back to school already? Year-round calendar begins for Houston area ‘pilot’ campuses Tags: Longer school year for some students HOUSTON – The 2021-2022 school year has already started at some Houston area schools that are piloting what TEA calls the Additional Days School Year or ADSY. State lawmakers approved the voluntary incentive program before the pandemic, in 2019, which offers extra funds to schools that add 30 additional instruction days to the calendar. “Normally, we do 180 days. Now it’s 210 days,” said Ermel Elementary principal Erik Torres. “Those 210 days provide us more opportunity to serve the kids and help them grow.” The research highlighted on TEA’s website (from Boston Consulting Group) shows that most students’ learning “slides,” especially for low-income students, during the long summer break.