Cutting the School Calendar

By: Patrick Avognon

Ayo Hanciles

Robert Tapia

In the California education budget crisis, one solution that has been discussed is the possibility of cutting the school calendars. California school districts feel that by shortening the calendar they can save over $305 million. Some criticisms with the cutting of school days is the fear of not meeting state requirement standards. Also, by cutting days teachers are going to have to take a reduction in salary.

Anything that saves money and jobs at the same time is a big plus. The shortening of the calendar is small price to pay to conserve our budget and the job security of our teachers. We encourage more serious consideration of shortening the calendar because, if used correctly, the proposed $305 million we would save could possibly pump life in California’s dying budget.

“I’m not in favor for days being cut, but if they had to be I’d prefer if they were the days after CST Testing,” commented Math teacher Dan Cramer.

Critics of this idea to cut days would complain that the lack of time used for preparing for CST Testing would result in lower scores and overall grades. They might also argue that the last few weeks of school are necessary for culminating processes.

Majority of the school year is spent preparing for the California Standardized Tests (CST). In the beginning of the year the required standards are introduced to students, by the middle the year they are still being taught, and by the end they are being reviewed just in time for CST Testing. After CSTs are over, there are usually still about 20-25 days remaining in the school year, but this time is used for school finals and other common end of the year activities. If these days after the testing period were cut and finals were pushed forward there would be no use for those last 20-25 days of school.

Another excuse that those against cutting the calendar might use is that the positives for this plan don’t outweigh the negatives, meaning that the amount of money saved is not worth the amount of money teachers would lose towards their paychecks. They would argue that when the original calendar with only 7 days assigned as furlough days, they already are losing about $2000 a year. If California school districts were to add more furlough days to the calendar the teachers would lose even more money from their paychecks.

What most teachers don’t understand is that when the entire country is in an economic depression, certain sacrifices have to be made to ensure the safety of our country’s infrastructure. Would you rather take away from students, this country’s future, or its teachers? Making cuts in other areas would be another plausible solution, but it would elongate the problems and the budget crisis. Also when the recession finally ends, the sacrifices you made won’t be forgotten.

This proposed solution to cut the calendar might not be in the best interest of the state’s teachers, but it is definitely a preferred method of saving money for California’s school district.