‘My wife worked in education 30 years and her SHORTEST contract was 215 work days, not 180. Some years, she worked a 255 day contract.’
hmmm...standard instructional time by year in Texas is 180 days, as cited by the Education Commission of the States, or 900 hours per year in order to qualify as an instructional day. or 5 hours p/day...the above are minimums, perhaps some teachers are contracted to work more, but your post attempts to make it appear that 200 plus work days are standard across the board, which in fact, they are not...
Teachers put in many more days a year than just "instructional" days. It's easy to see for yourself. Just go on ANY reasonably sized school district website and look at the job offerings. They will likely tell you the length of the contract. And, you will also see MANY jobs in special ed and educational support staff that exceed 200 days/yr. And yes, these people hold teaching certificates (and greater) and are teachers. My wife decided she couldn't pass up a great job offer to go back to work short-term and is currently working with special ed students on an educational diagnostician contract for 215 days. She was offered one for 255 days.