The Sacramento Bee reported this morning that among the options for closing the budget hole would be cutting four weeks off the K-12 school calendar next year.
Gov. Jerry Brown and school officials warn that shutting down school one month early – 20 instructional days – is a real possibility for the next school year without an extension of higher taxes. Some see Hawaii, which slashed 17 days in 2009-10, as an example that drastic measures are possible.
But there remain significant hurdles to imposing a monthlong closure in California, particularly getting approval from teachers unions and lawmakers. Republicans suggest that Democrats are raising the possibility as a scare tactic.
Since they were unable to muster the 2/3 of the state legislature needed to put the tax extensions on the ballot, there is a very large gap that remains in the state budget. One way to close that hole would be to furlough teachers even more than is already happening this year, when many districts have cut five days off the calendar. The current state minimum is 175 days, but that may change.
The California Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that eliminating each five-day school week statewide would save $1 billion.
How will they be able to meet the state standards for what content is required to be covered with four weeks less in the school year? It's hard to imagine that this won't have serious ramifications for the education of our state's students.
The Republicans are mistaken (or lying) that this is a scare tactic. There are very few options for solving this problem, and all of them will create serious pain for many of us in California.
It's perhaps ironic that this discussion is being had at the same time that a nationwide discussion continues on how we can improve education for students around the country and make sure that they are being educated to a degree that allows us to be competitive in a global environment. The failure of Republicans to approve any taxes of any kind at any time is devastating to the present and the future of this state.
We must do better.