The Value of a School Day

This post by Elena Silva, originally appeared on The Quick & The Ed blog on June 21, 2012. 

Districts across the country are considering cutting the number of school days. The move is an extreme cost-savings measure, one that many are saying is unfortunate but necessary and unavoidable. But cutting school time, in some cases reducing the school year by weeks, is more than unfortunate. It’s wrong, and quite possibly the worst thing you can do for the education of kids. Consider Los Angeles, where the district and the teachers union agreed last week to cut 5 more days from next year’s schedule–for a total of 18 days cut over the last four years. Teachers will reportedly take a pay cut of 5%. Has anyone calculated the learning cut that students will take? Or the losses to parents and families that have to find additional care (or learning opportunities?) for their children during those extra days off? The problem is nationwide, and not just in big cities and states with busted budgets like California. Here’s Ohio, and Georgia, Minnesota, and Oregon. Google “cutting school days” or “reducing school time” and you’ll see even more examples, as well as references to the increasingly popular 4-day week schedule.
 
I would like to think that states, districts and even individual schools are considering all options, contemplating any way to avoid reducing the amount of education their kids get. What are all the options? Check out ERS’s School Budget Hold ‘Em for some ideas, among them a list of things well worth considering before cutting weeks of instruction:
 
Freeze salary step increases for one year for all employee contracts
Reduce professional development for teachers by 2 days
Reduce special education administration and compliance spending at the central office 10% by using technology and by redesigning processes
Reduce special education administration and compliance spending at the central office 10% by using technology and by redesigning processes
Lease unused and after school space to community groups and other users
Replace the top 5% most expensive high school classes with comparable on-line offerings
Partner with community groups to provide 50% of summer school programs
 
I’ve written extensively about the relative value of school time, arguing here and here that the number of hours or days is far less important than the quality of instruction. But cutting weeks out of an already basic school schedule (180 days is the norm, with most districts looking to dip under this) is unacceptable and quite clearly something that will harm poor children the most. Is this the signal we want to send about what our society values? That we openly accept less education for our children?