Arguing for a Longer School Year?

In the ever changing state of affairs in the education field, one of the hot new discussions going on, is whether the length of the US school year should be increased in an effort to increase achievement for students or decreased to save money. President Obama is the one who has mentioned the possible need to increase the amount of days in a school year, while others have been debating the reducing of days for some time.

When I was growing up in school, the new school year started after labor day, but that was a couple decades ago, and now local school are starting in mid Aug. There are some who stand back and report that both arguments have weaknesses on this issue, and that the amount of time allotted has little to do with increasing academic achievements.

Stanford emeritus professor of education and president of the State Board of Education Michael Kirst recently stated that there are only three places school districts can find the amount of savings they need in order to make up the almost $5 billion needed in the school budget shortfall. They can either increase class size, cut staff salaries while requiring the same amount of work, or by shortening the school year and thus reducing the amount of paid days for the staff.

Class sizes in many schools are already at overload, with 35-40 per classroom often. Many have maxed out the state law limit, and others are running the risk of violating fire safety laws. So, the most viable option is the shortening of the school year. Of course, this has repercussions on the public, because now Johnny would not be in school Monday through Friday, and so whatever day is cut, would require families to find additional child care in most cases, passing additional costs to the public.

In 2009, the minimum amount of school days was set at 175. This new push for a shorter year could reduce that to 150 or 155 days. However, some have pointed out after crunching the numbers, that even if they cut school by a month it would only cover about half of the budget shortfalls.

So, the debate continues. Is the real issue centered around the amount of time in the classroom, or should they be looking at the amount involved in a year's curriculum? Is it time or teacher skills? Is it trying to do too much in too little time, or should the focus of what is taught be examined? What are your thoughts?



Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Education Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.