Southeast Missouri administrators like idea of longer school year, but worry about the costs

While Southeast Missouri public school administrators generally support the call to extend the school year, in these days of deep budget cuts they question who will cover the cost.

The question becomes even more pronounced given that Missouri school districts were forced to cut summer school budgets late last spring while state funding remained in doubt.

President Barack Obama is extolling the virtues of extending the school year, pointing to the much longer academic schedule of countries with the best achievement levels. U.S. schools through high school offer an average of 180 instruction days per year, compared to an average of 197 days for lower grades and 196 days for upper grades in countries like Japan, Germany and South Korea.

Missouri law mandates public schools must meet a minimum school-year standard of 174 days and 1,044 hours of class time. There is no maximum requirement.

While the data on the merits of extending the school year are mixed, Southeast Missouri administrators say it makes sense that more class time equals greater opportunities to teach and reach students.

Stosh Lovett, right, and Zach Johnson, left, of Kelly High School, study with Adam Reisenbichler of Jackson High School in their electrical trades class Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010 at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. (Fred Lynch)

"The real issue is, we don't need to have further unfunded mandates, particularly in a difficult time, to ask school districts to incur costs," said Jim Welker, superintendent of Cape Girardeau Public Schools.

That's the sentiment from school boards statewide, according to Brent Ghan, spokesman for the Missouri School Boards' Association. The association hasn't taken an official position on the concept, but Ghan said it's a hot topic among members in a state with one of the lowest minimum school-year standards in the nation.

Proponents argue that extending the school year would help in the battle of lesson retention.

Educators have long struggled with the summer break fog, when students return to class failing to retain much of what they learned in the previous school year.

But there's debate about the value of extending the school year.

The Center for Education Policy, Applied Research and Evaluation at the University of Southern Maine found, among key points, that extending the school day could be more beneficial than extending the school year.

Fixing the system, not necessarily lengthening the academic year, is at the heart of the matter, according to Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau.

"I wouldn't draw a conclusionary result that if you spend more time in a crappy model you'll get a better result," he said. "It's what's going on in the classroom that's of utmost importance to me."

Crowell said he doesn't want to see the federal government mandating a solution. The point is ultimately academic.

States and local school boards set school calendars, although the federal government could spur change through funding incentives.

Susan Floyd, elementary reading specialist in the Jackson School District, has mixed feelings about extending the school year. The teacher said she sees more value in a longer school day, with four-day weeks on a 10-week schedule.

"There is a lot in curriculum that is jam-packed in a year, and anything we can do to make that less stressful for the teachers and the students, I think many educators would be willing to do that," Floyd said.

Talk of a longer school year comes as Missouri school districts cut summer school programs waiting for the Missouri Legislature to find funding. The Cape Girardeau School District last year nixed a plan to expand summer school, a program with a cost of nearly $149,000, according to the district.

About 50 percent of elementary through eighth-grade students take advantage of summer school in the Perry County School District, according to superintendent Kevin Dunn.

"We didn't know if we were going to have the funding last year, and it's pretty shaky if we'll have it this year," he said

The decline statewide was steep, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Summer school average daily attendance was about 30,757 students in 2009 and unofficially in 2010 it was about 18,030, based on preliminary figures.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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