Summer School Cuts Leave Students at Disadvantage

With apologies to Gershwin: Summertime ... and the learnin' ain't easy.

School districts with slashed budgets are canceling summer school classes.

(Getty Images)

Educators and parents always try to minimize "learning loss" during the lazy days of summer. But this year, dire budget scenarios make it especially challenging. Some school districts have canceled summer school altogether, while others have reduced the slots available for academic and enrichment activities.

The good news is, tough times beget creative solutions: online courses, schools pairing with community groups to sponsor day camps, and districts tapping federal stimulus funds to keep summer school going.

"It is going to take entire communities coming together to figure out ways to keep kids healthy, safe, and learning during the summer months," says Ron Fairchild, executive director of the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

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For students struggling to catch up in reading and math, the loss of summer school doesn't bode well. A recent Johns Hopkins study found that 65 percent of the academic gaps between low-income ninth-graders and their peers can be attributed to unequal summer learning opportunities during the elementary grades.

"The kids who desperately need these opportunities ... are going to experience tremendous setbacks this summer," Mr. Fairchild says. Districts making cuts may save money now, he says, "but in essence they are incurring a huge debt in terms of the interventions that will be required later."

In North Carolina's Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, summer classes for many third-, fifth-, and eighth-graders at risk of not being promoted have been cut to save several million dollars. Statewide, proposed cuts could lead to thousands of teacher layoffs and the loss of after-school and summer opportunities for 15,000 students, says John Dornan, president of the Public School Forum of North Carolina, a nonprofit in Raleigh.

Los Angeles eliminated summer school for everyone except special-education students and high-schoolers who need credits to graduate, for a savings of about $34 million. The move affects more than 225,000 students.