AZ School District Trying 4-Day School Week

PolitiChicks.comAs Oregon doubles down on school time by trying to lower the compulsory age to 5 and lengthening instructional hours, a district in Arizona is experimenting with shortening the school week.

The Peoria Unified School District planned the 30 day study in response to Arizona governor Doug Ducey’s proposed budget which includes cuts to district funding in an effort to lower the state budget.

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The district wishes to provide excellence to its students and families and to continue to do so means cutting to a 4-day school week rather than cutting programs.

The proposed cuts to education are outlined in the Governor’s budget. What’s interesting in this proposal is the recommendation to continue the data gathering. From the document:

The Executive recommends continuing the development and implementation of the Education Learning and Accountability System (ELAS), which is focused on improving student data collection and school finance payments. This data system will collect, complete, maintain and report student level data for students 128     Department of Education FY 2016 Executive Budget attending public institutions that provide instruction to pupils in preschool programs, grades one through 12, and postsecondary education. Since 2012, the State has provided $31.4 million to develop ELAS.

There are two main components to the new system. First is the replacement of the current Student Accountability and Information System (SAIS).

The other component is the Statewide Longitudinal Data System, otherwise known as the huge governmental, womb to tomb data gathering monstrosity.

Data gathering is more important than educational instruction time in Arizona. Well, actually, data gathering is more important than educational instruction in all states.

This, so far, is the first I’ve heard of a district toying with the idea of cutting instructional days to 4 a week to deal with budget cuts. In fact, living in Oregon, I’m not used to the idea of cutting the budget for education. Our government is always demanding more money and comes up with some creative (read: stupid and draining to Oregonians wallets) ways to get more of it into the all-important education fund.

I’m sure there are extraneous programs and superfluous personnel that could be cut without chopping a day off of the school week. Or, hey, an even better idea:  Data collection could, say, take a flying leap!

Macey France

Oregon PolitiChick Macey France is co-founder of the Stop Common Core in Oregon and is working with parents across the state to educate and help them to learn how to advocate for their children's education. Macey has spoken at many Common Core informational meetings across the state of Oregon. Macey's articles on Common Core have been picked up by various news outlets and she has been a guest on many radio shows across the nation. Macey's article about The Bluest Eye was featured on a panel on Al Jazeera America and was nominated for a CPAC Blogger Award for Best Sunlight Post of 2013. Macey is a strong conservative with libertarian leanings, making her more of a "conservatarian." Preserving the constitutional and moral values of that this great nation was founded on for her children is her priority. She is a stay at home mom of two boys who are now in elementary school. As a mom who has always been interested in politics, religion and all of the taboo subjects, she has always had a lot to say about the state of the nation. When she realized the Common Core Standards were not only bad news for children but a government coup over education, she decided to fight back and is now considered one of the nation's leading experts on all-things-Common Core. When she's not having uncomfortable arguments with strangers on Facebook she can be found spending time with her husband of 15 years and two sons. Find Macey France on Facebook and Twitter: @MaceyFrancePC

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