California: School year shrinking as budget crisis grows

Just as education experts are encouraging more classroom time to improve student grades and test scores, many California districts are moving in the opposite direction by shortening their school year amid a sustained and draining budget crisis.

Sixteen of the state's 30 largest school districts, including San Francisco, San Jose and Fremont in the Bay Area, are reducing the number of days in the academic year, according to a survey by California Watch. The changes are expected to affect about 1.4 million students.

Educators say a shrinking school year, along with other cuts, could depress hard-won academic gains in recent years. It is a dramatic illustration, they say, of how the state's budget crisis is eroding the core of public education in California.

The move comes amid cutbacks in other aspects of public education, including rolling back or eliminating the state's program intended to limit class sizes in the early grades to 20 students.

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California's shorter school year will put the state even further behind nations such as South Korea, with 220 school days a year, and Switzerland, with 228. Growing numbers of California students will find themselves in the company of those in Kentucky, Maine and Missouri, where school years are 175 days long.

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What makes the shorter year attractive to many districts is that it yields large savings. In Los Angeles, for example, cutting the year to 175 days will save $145 million. Even smaller districts like Fremont - the state's 27th largest - will save $5.8 million by reducing the school year by three days.

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Last year, in his first major speech on education, President Obama vigorously made the case for more instructional time.

"The challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom," he said.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/19/MNQ01EFBET.DTL (this is actually an article by California Watch, not the SF Chronicle)

So when will Arne Duncan deal with this? Oh wait, he's got a vested interest in de-publicizing public education! (Another campaign/presidential promise broken by Obama.)

I spent most of my career in CA. We averaged 180 days for students. For 5 years, I worked in a school that offered 190 days.

Moving to Oregon 5 years ago, I found that the district that hired me had already cut days to 168 for students.

A year ago, my district RIF'd about 50 people and cut the school year to 147 days. At the end of May 2010, they cut it by 3 more, giving the grand total of instructional student days of 144.

For next year? Right now we're scheduled for about 160. Leaving the end of the year open for more cuts if necessary.

Cutting the school year short that late in the year meant that many of our classified employees, who don't get paid over the summer, took the 3 day pay cut all in one check...their last until next October.

And another turn in the death spiral the country has entered.