CA bill would allow school districts to cut three additional weeks of class.

[RandySF]

Call it a last-minute clarification or a June surprise, another piece of bad news: A trailer bill that the Legislature will vote on Wednesday permits districts to slash the school year by an additional three weeks for the next two years, if voters reject Gov. Brown’s tax increase in November. That’s twice what Gov. Jerry Brown seemed to suggest in the May budget revise when he proposed the elimination of 15 days divided over a two-year period. Instead, the Legislature is prepared to authorize a 160-day year, likely the lowest in the nation and far behind other advanced nations; nearly all states have a 180-day year, which California also required before 2010.

In one sense, nothing has changed. Brown hasn’t suggested less funding for schools than the $53.6 billion for 2012-13 that the Legislature approved in passing the budget last week. Districts will have to negotiate a shorter year with their unions; they can’t declare it unilaterally, and most districts won’t go that low.

But the language in AB 1476 (section 50, midway through a very long bill) is a stark message that a defeat of the tax increase will create more than a one-year revenue crisis for schools.

Brown basically spared K-12 schools cuts in this year’s state budget but is promising to slash school funding by $5.5 billion if voters reject the income tax/sales tax increase. That translates to $441 per student, about an 8.4 percent cut in funding. Eliminating 15 days out of a minimum 175 days would be an 8.6 percent cut in the calendar. So cutting 7.5 days each of the next two years would solve only half of the gap, leaving districts to make other cuts through layoffs, benefits, or non-pay areas.


http://toped.svefoundation.org/2012/06/26/not-one-but-two-160-day-minimum-years/

[msongs]

1. they will have to cut 3 weeks worth of curriculum as well and rewrite ALL the tests for

missing content

[mbperrin]

2. Nah. Just tell the kids the last week of school to study a month's worth.

That'll fix it.

Or why have school at all? Just print diplomas and hand them out to 18 year olds.

After all, there are no consequences to having a poor education system? Are there? Heck, Somalia gets along just fine without education OR government!

[LWolf]

3. 160 days is not the lowest in the nation.

My district has a 167 day school year when no days are cut. Four of those days are parent conference days, which are counted as "student contact." So, really, our standard year has 163 instructional days when no days are cut. Of course, for the last several years, we've cut days; anywhere from 6 to 20, depending on the budget and the result of negotiations. I'm sorry to see CA go down that path.