In a money-saving move, the Wilkes County Board of Education on Tuesday agreed to ask the N.C. General Assembly to shorten the school calendar by 18 days and add 45 minutes to each school day for the 2009-10 school year.
“The law says schools must operate for 180 days and 1,000 hours every school year,” Wilkes County Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen C. Laws told the board. “We simply want to change state law to say ‘or’ 1,000 hours. We want that flexibility.”
The board Monday unanimously agreed on a proposed school calendar for the coming school year that would start classes Aug. 24 and end school May 21, a move that Laws told board members could save the Wilkes County school system $900,000 in the fiscal year that begins today.
There would also be longer holidays in the schedule, including a full week holiday for Thanksgiving (Nov. 23-27), a two-week break for the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period (Dec. 21-Jan. 1) and an additional break for students between March 11-15, 2010.
The 180-day calendar previously approved by the board would start school Aug. 25 and end classes June 7.
“None of us are happy about changing the school calendar,” Laws told board members. “We also understand the lateness of this, but we’re trying to find ways to retain revenue and allow us to keep people working.”
Also Tuesday, the school board approved a continuing budget resolution, allowing the schools to continue operations while a budget for the current fiscal year is still being debated in Raleigh.
The two issues of the proposed short calendar for Wilkes County and the state education budget are linked, because N.C. Sen. Steve Goss (D-Watauga) has added legislation allowing the short calendar to the Senate version of the budget.
The shortened calendar would be used only in Wilkes County, as a pilot program, Laws said.
If state lawmakers approve the shortened calendar for Wilkes County, students and their parents here would see little disruption, Laws told board members.
“We intend to start school on the Aug. 24, rather than the 25th,” he said, referring to the standard 180-day calendar the board approved earlier. “Also, we would be getting out of school before Memorial Day. I doubt there would be many who would object to that.”
Rep. Shirley Randleman (R-Wilkes) has also approved of the short calendar, and plans to introduce that measure into the House budget when appropriate, Laws told board members.
After the board meeting, Laws said he undertook the short calendar after lengthy discussion with his principals over ways to save money about three weeks ago.
“Wilkes County would be the one and only, as I understand it, pilot for a calendar such as this,” Laws said.
“The state can watch Wilkes County and see if this does keep the integrity of what you want to do in the classroom and if it does save the amount of money you want it to save.”
The state cut Wilkes County school system’s budget by nearly $700,000 in current-expense money in the past fiscal year, and the state also cut its share of capital-outlay spending as well, Laws said.
The budget cuts in the current year’s spending plan may be even more drastic, following a projected shortfall in state revenue of some $4 billion.
“We feel confident we can retain all the teachers who want to work here, and those whom we want to work here,” he said. “But we stand to lose 58 teaching assistants. We will do anything we can to save those jobs in Wilkes County.”
The shortened school calendar would also require the school day to be longer by 45 minutes to maintain current curriculum requirements, he said. Under the proposed short calendar, the school day would begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. for most students. The longer school day would add up to 1,040 hours, slightly more than the 1,000 hours currently required, Laws said.
The cost savings in either plan would come from reduced operating costs for utilities, diesel fuel for buses (due to fewer days on the road for buses), school nutrition and hourly payroll expenses for support staff (such as substitute teachers, cafeteria workers and bus drivers).
“The law says schools must operate for 180 days and 1,000 hours every school year,” Wilkes County Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen C. Laws told the board. “We simply want to change state law to say ‘or’ 1,000 hours. We want that flexibility.”
The board Monday unanimously agreed on a proposed school calendar for the coming school year that would start classes Aug. 24 and end school May 21, a move that Laws told board members could save the Wilkes County school system $900,000 in the fiscal year that begins today.
There would also be longer holidays in the schedule, including a full week holiday for Thanksgiving (Nov. 23-27), a two-week break for the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period (Dec. 21-Jan. 1) and an additional break for students between March 11-15, 2010.
The 180-day calendar previously approved by the board would start school Aug. 25 and end classes June 7.
“None of us are happy about changing the school calendar,” Laws told board members. “We also understand the lateness of this, but we’re trying to find ways to retain revenue and allow us to keep people working.”
Also Tuesday, the school board approved a continuing budget resolution, allowing the schools to continue operations while a budget for the current fiscal year is still being debated in Raleigh.
The two issues of the proposed short calendar for Wilkes County and the state education budget are linked, because N.C. Sen. Steve Goss (D-Watauga) has added legislation allowing the short calendar to the Senate version of the budget.
The shortened calendar would be used only in Wilkes County, as a pilot program, Laws said.
If state lawmakers approve the shortened calendar for Wilkes County, students and their parents here would see little disruption, Laws told board members.
“We intend to start school on the Aug. 24, rather than the 25th,” he said, referring to the standard 180-day calendar the board approved earlier. “Also, we would be getting out of school before Memorial Day. I doubt there would be many who would object to that.”
Rep. Shirley Randleman (R-Wilkes) has also approved of the short calendar, and plans to introduce that measure into the House budget when appropriate, Laws told board members.
After the board meeting, Laws said he undertook the short calendar after lengthy discussion with his principals over ways to save money about three weeks ago.
“Wilkes County would be the one and only, as I understand it, pilot for a calendar such as this,” Laws said.
“The state can watch Wilkes County and see if this does keep the integrity of what you want to do in the classroom and if it does save the amount of money you want it to save.”
The state cut Wilkes County school system’s budget by nearly $700,000 in current-expense money in the past fiscal year, and the state also cut its share of capital-outlay spending as well, Laws said.
The budget cuts in the current year’s spending plan may be even more drastic, following a projected shortfall in state revenue of some $4 billion.
“We feel confident we can retain all the teachers who want to work here, and those whom we want to work here,” he said. “But we stand to lose 58 teaching assistants. We will do anything we can to save those jobs in Wilkes County.”
The shortened school calendar would also require the school day to be longer by 45 minutes to maintain current curriculum requirements, he said. Under the proposed short calendar, the school day would begin at 7:45 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. for most students. The longer school day would add up to 1,040 hours, slightly more than the 1,000 hours currently required, Laws said.
The cost savings in either plan would come from reduced operating costs for utilities, diesel fuel for buses (due to fewer days on the road for buses), school nutrition and hourly payroll expenses for support staff (such as substitute teachers, cafeteria workers and bus drivers).
