Question: Most industrialized countries in the world require students to attend school for more than 180 day per year. With the decline of U.S. students’ test scores in reading and math, why isn’t lengthening the school year been a consideration? Throughout my 20 years of teaching, more and more has been added to the curriculum but no additional time is provided for instruction. Yes, it would cost tax payers more money but it just makes sense that if we are to truly compete in a global educational society, we need to increase the number of days students attend school so that adequate time can be spent learning the concepts that are required.
Response: You won’t hear an uproar of resistance here. In fact, we supported former state superintendent Scott Bean as he pushed hard for two or three years to get the school year extended to 240 days, then later to 220 days. Then he gave up. You are hitting the nail on the head when you identify this as a financial issue. Activating teachers an additional day costs more than $1,000,000 in Granite, we are about 11% of the state. That means a rough (and low) estimate would be more than $9,000,000 per day. Multiply that by 60 days, or 40 days, and we’re talking about real money – year after year as well (not a none-time expense). Thanks for your work with the limited resource (time) you have!