Don't Bet on Savings from a Four-Day School Week, ECS Says
This article really kind of made me wonder what kind of fools are running some of these school districts. I had heard a buzz about a thought of some school districts moving to a 4-day school week to save money but never did I ever think it was actually going to happen. Apparently as many as 120 school districts in 17 different states already have, and it didn't work. Really?!?? No way! Did these educational leaders really beleive that by cutting one fifth of the school week that they would actually save on 20% of their budget? I am honestly sickened by this. Our educational system is currently failing. NOT just on the financial end, our students test in the middle of the road internationally at best...and its getting worse. So we decide that its a good idea to shorten their instruction period AND give them a longer gap between lessons? I seriously want to puke. Michael Griffith of the Education Commission of the States put out a report that "On the whole, promises of savings from moving to a four-day week are vastly overstated..." and goes on to report that at most a district saved about 5% with the average falling between .4 and 2.5% savings by moving to a four day school week. I say fire the Superintendents of those districts, and everyone on the board of education that supervise them, fire every single one of them. I know my opinion sounds harsh, and it is, but there seriously has got to be a better way. Yes, times are hard these days especially for education but try to cut your losses, dont screw the budget and the instruction at the same time.
Moving to a four-day week does not have to sacrifice 20% of classroom time. Schools often start earlier and run longer throughout the day. But your point about the ignorance of fixed costs (v. relative costs) is a good one.
ReplyDeleteYou imply that success in school is correlated to the amount of instruction time. At what point does this formula see diminishing returns? After all, why not pack away students to education camps and have them in class up t0 16+ hours a day, like Medieval monks?