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NPR
Colorado School
District Switches To 4-Day Week To Save Money
August 14, 2018
Vanessa Romo
A Colorado school district intent on saving money has cut one of its
greatest costs: teaching.
District 27J, one of the state's larger districts, has dropped Mondays
from the school week and switched to a four-day schedule as of Tuesday,
the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year. Superintendent Chris
Fiedler told NBC 9 News that the district will save on transportation
costs, teaching salaries and districtwide utilities.
"We anticipate about $1 million in savings," Fiedler said.
9 News reported that the change comes on the heels of six failed
attempts by the district to raise additional money through bond
elections.
The district northeast of the Denver metropolitan area serves nearly
18,000 students and includes 12 elementary schools, four middle
schools, four high schools and five charter schools. It is the 98th
district in the state approved by the Colorado Department of Education
to adopt the shorter schedule.
Fiedler estimates that running fewer school buses alone will save the
district about $700,000.
"I realize this will be a significant change for our students, their
families, and the communities we are so fortunate to serve, but our
district can no longer be expected to do more with less financial
resources," district officials said in a press release, according to 9
News.
The district plans to offer child care on Mondays for $30 per child per
day.
Students will attend regular classes Tuesday through Friday and class
time will be extended by 40 minutes per day.
The schedule was submitted for approval by the Colorado Department of
Education in March.
NPR Commentary...
Four Days A Week
A Colorado school district intent on saving money has cut one of its
greatest costs: teaching.
District 27J, one of the state's larger districts, has dropped Mondays
from the school week and switched to a four-day schedule for the
beginning of the 2018-2019 school year.
All across the country -- in 25 states -- districts have tried cutting
a day to save money on things like gas for buses, heating and cooling
bills, and school lunches.
The superintendent in Colorado, Chris Fiedler, said the district
anticipates saving about $1 million.
But is that what really happens when schools cut a day? Not always, as
we've previously reported. The research is mixed, too -- in some
districts, math scores improved, in others there was either no
difference in achievement, or other negative consequences from longer
days and three-day breaks from the classroom.
The change from five days to four can also be tough on parents'
schedules and wallets. In the Colorado district, there is a plan to
offer child care on Mondays for $30 per child per day.
And more from NPR...
When A 4-Day School Week Might Cost More Than It Saves
First thing Friday morning, Bill Florence is getting his two kids,
Chloe, 11, and Austen, 8, ready to head out the door.
"Did you guys brush your teeth?" he asks. "Yes," they moan.
Monday through Thursday, Chloe and Austen catch the bus to Peralta
Trail Elementary School, but today, their dad scoots them into the
family's silver Honda.
That's because Apache Junction Unified School District, just east of
Phoenix, moved to a four-day week this year. With little else to cut
out of its shrinking budget, it dropped Friday classes, adding an hour
to class time Monday through Thursday.
On the fifth day, Florence drops his kids off at a city-run day care
that costs the family more than $100 a month.
This year alone, Bill and his wife, Jennifer Florence, will pay more
than $1,500 in child care because of the four-day schedule. "We are not
happy with it," Bill says. "It isn't the ideal situation. We would
rather have the kids in school on Friday."
The district of 4,500 students says its bills are high, too. Something
had to go. After closing schools and growing class sizes, Apache
Junction joined at least 41 other districts in Arizona already on the
four-day schedule.
Superintendent Chad Wilson blames the state of Arizona. Parodying
officials, he says: "Pay your bills that cost what they cost in 2016
off of what you were making in 1987."
All across the country, districts have tried cutting the fifth day to
save money on things like gas for buses, heating and cooling bills, and
school lunches.
Apache Junction estimates it'll save less than 1 percent of the
budget by dropping Friday classes. That's about $33 per student, per
year.
Were there other reasons behind the move?
Yes, teachers, Wilson says.
Third-grade teacher Shana Myers and her colleagues in Apache Junction
make up to $10,000 less than surrounding districts. And when they
leave, turnover is expensive.
Myers says with the old schedule, she and the other teachers used to
meet on Saturday, but now they have Friday to lesson plan.
Today Myers and fellow teacher Nicole Brokaw are working on next week's
critical thinking lessons. For Brokaw, Fridays without students is an
incentive to stay.
"This really gives us an opportunity to close our week and think fresh
about what is going to happen, and it's been helpful for us with the
kids," she says.
Fine for teachers, but it can be tough on parents' schedules and
wallets.
In fact, the district says the schedule is so unpopular with families
that it expects to lose several hundred students to other school
systems.
"My best friend, she and her family, her two brothers, they moved to a
private school because of the four-day school week," says fifth-grader
Chloe Florence. And that's bad news for Apache Junction Unified, which
is funded on a per-student basis.
Jennifer Florence says it just doesn't add up, but her family has
decided to stick it out.
"In a philosophical sense we believe very strongly in public education.
So we are trying to support the system. Abandoning a ship, it will
sink."
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