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.
Of the state's 30 largest school districts, 16 are cutting the number of days in the upcoming academic year. The changes are expected to affect about 1.4 million students in these districts alone.
Educators believe a shrinking school year, in combination with other budget cuts, could depress hard-won academic gains in recent years. To many, it is a dramatic illustration of how the state's budget crisis has begun to erode not just the fringes, but also the core of public education in California.
"This is a major setback," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "We're reducing opportunities for our students, which puts California students at a competitive disadvantage relative to other states."
Two years ago, as the state's economy deteriorated, the state gave districts permission to reduce the calendar from 180 days to 175 days, but few exercised the option.
No longer. Facing crushing deficits, districts throughout the state, including Sonoma County, will cut up to five days. Many also will eliminate days when students are not in the classroom that teachers traditionally have used for class preparation, staff training or parent conferences.
California's shorter school year will put the state even further behind numerous countries, including South Korea with 220 school days and Switzerland with 228. Growing numbers of California students will find themselves in the company of those in Kentucky, Maine and Missouri, whose school years are 175 days.
The move is accompanied by cuts in almost every other aspect of public education, including rolling back or eliminating the state's program intended to keep class sizes in the early grades to just 20 students. Last fall, most of the state's 30 largest districts were increasing class size in the K-3 grades, in some cases to as many as 30 students.
What makes the shorter year attractive to many districts is that it yields large savings. The state's 30 largest districts are expected to save more than $200 million combined. In Los Angeles, for example, a shorter year will save $145 million.
In cutting the school year, however, California may be sacrificing a major source of revenue even while it tries to trim its budget.
To compete for the $3.5 billion school-improvement grant program offered by the U.S. Education Department, districts must agree to implement four turnaround strategies for their lowest-performing schools. Two of them would require expanding the school day, week or year as schools increase instructional time for core academic subjects.
In March 2009, in his first major speech on education after occupying the White House, President Barack Obama vigorously made the case for more instructional time.
"The challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom," he said.
Linda Shaffer, whose daughter Julianne, 7, and son Nate, 6, attend Sherman Elementary School in San Francisco's Cow Hollow neighborhood, worried about the cumulative effect of continual cutting of programs year after year. During the coming year, San Francisco will cut four days from the instructional calendar.
"Combined with other cuts like increasing class sizes, laying off teachers and closing libraries, it all adds up," she said. "It's no wonder that California ranks near the bottom on test scores."
During tough bargaining sessions over the past several months, teachers unions have had a powerful incentive to agree to shorter school years. They faced the unpleasant choice of accepting unpaid furlough days — and a modest salary cut — versus the prospect of more widespread layoffs.
"It is horrible to put the classroom teacher in that situation," said David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association, which represents some 325,000 teachers and other school personnel. "Districts have been forced into these positions, basically because they have no other recourse."
O'Connell worries that if the state's budget crisis persists, an ever-shrinking school year and larger classes could become the norm. He fears a 170-day school year and 40 students a class with no floor in sight may soon replace the 175-day school year and K-3 class sizes of 30 students.
"This is not hyperbole," he said. "Absent additional funding, this may only be the beginning."
California Watch is a project of the Center for Investigative Reporting. You can contact Louis Freedberg at lfreedberg@californiawatch.org.
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