Districts Debate Four-Day School Week

PUEBLO, Colo., April 14, 2009— -- On the outskirts of Pueblo, Colo., in a district called Pueblo 70, school buses log a combined total of 7,300 miles every single day. Cutting Fridays off the school schedule could save the district a bundle in gas costs alone.

Enrollment is down across the district, and because of the recession, state funds have been cut back.

"Out of a $60 million budget, we have to cut about $4.5 million out of our budget," said Dan Lere, superintendent of the Pueblo 70 School District. "Going to a four-day week will net us about $1.2 million in savings."

The school board is considering switching its 8,000 students from the traditional five-day week to four longer school days Monday through Thursday.

They wouldn't be alone.

Schools in at least 19 states already operate only four days a week, and districts in a dozen states are considering making the move to cut back on costs or are considering legislation to allow it.

Reducing the school week is also not a brand new idea. During the oil crisis of the late 1970s, schools in the West switched to shorter weeks to save money on gas for buses.

In Pueblo, the idea has raised debate among parents.

With students logging 50 fewer hours in the classroom over the course of the school year, many are worried that savings for schools come at the expense of children's education.

"How are the teachers going to structure it so they can get the quality of education they would get in a five-day week?" asked Diane House, a mother of two, whose children go to school in Pueblo. "It seems like a long day for a 6 year-old, 7 year-old, 8 year-old to handle. We are tired at the end of an eight-hour or nine-hour workday, and they are just little guys."

Other skeptics point out that four-day school weeks drop hidden costs on families for additional child care.

"Asking working parents to find day care, and you are adding a cost to those people, and the economy the way it is, a lot of families are going to struggle with it," said Kim Arline, mother of two.