School board members agonize over shorter school year
For school board members at districts around the state, the decision to shorten a school year has been an agonizing one – made only after other drastic cuts have already been implemented.
Interviews by New America Media with elected board members from diverse backgrounds in several California districts underscore how being a school board member – long viewed as a starting point for higher political office – has become an exercise in decision making of the toughest kind.
“We’ve moved from saying ‘no, never, we can’t cut that, to ‘which of the horrible options in front of us are possibilities to cut?’” said Mónica García, Los Angeles Unified Board president.
García remembers calling LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines earlier this year to suggest that the district might have to consider cutting the school year for the first time.
The district ended up doing precisely that – cutting one week not just from the coming 2010-2011 school year, but also from the one that just concluded in June.
“The decision to cut the school year came by acknowledging that the other choices were worse,” explained García.
“By increasing class size and reducing supportive services for kids in schools, we’ve already participated in actions that could be characterized as ‘education malpractice,’” García said. “When you are looking at whether to raise class size by another five kids in K-3 or should
GRAPHIC: Comparing state's largest districts on length of school year
Find out how the school year in California's 30 largest school districts compare
GRAPHIC: California's school year falls short compared to rest of world
GRAPHIC: California's school year falls short compared to rest of world
Find out how California's school year compares to the rest of the world
Gran parte de los distritos escolares más grandes del estado reduce calendario escolar debido a crisis presupuestaria
Gran parte de los distritos escolares más grandes del estado reduce calendario escolar debido a crisis presupuestaria
De los 30 distritos escolares más grandes del estado, 16 están reduciendo la cantidad de días de su año académico, según una encuesta realizada por California Watch.