HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - Some Kansas schools are preparing for additional cuts in state spending by cutting to four-day weeks.
The Cunningham school board in south-central Kansas earlier this month decided to adopt the four-day week for the district's grade school and high school in an effort to save about $45,000 on busing, utility and labor costs.
It's one of at least 11 school districts in the state that have adopted four-day school weeks. Haviland USD 474 and Mullinville USD 424 in Mullinville approved the change for 2009-10 in March.
Cunningham's schedule for next year will include several five-day weeks for such events as homecoming, Superintendent Glenn Fortmayer said. The academic year will be from Aug. 24 to May 26.
Fortmayer said the change is due to less money from the state and declining enrollment, which currently is about 170 students for the district.
"We have been operating a little over budget due to trying to maintain staff at the current level," he said.
A survey conducted before the board's April 13 meeting, when the new schedule was approved, showed parents overwhelmingly supported a four-day week with the school day beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 3:50 p.m., meeting the state's minimum requirements of 1,116 hours.
Besides saving money, the schedule offers other advantages, Fortmayer said, including giving teachers an extra day for planning on the weekends, and allowing for medical and other appointments to be kept without missing school.
Before deciding on the new schedule, Fortmayer said the district looked at others of similar size in the state and around the country that have adopted the four-day week.
"All the districts we talked to said, regardless of the money, they wouldn't go back," Fortmayer said. "The quality of instruction increases because of planning and fringe benefits."
Some districts hope to save money by cutting days in the current academic year. For example, the Fairfield School District is letting out May 15, a week earlier than scheduled, because it didn't use all of its snow days, said Superintendent Mary Treaster. The move will save about $8,000 for the 318-student district, she said.
The extra week will be used for in-service training for teachers, whose last day for the year will remain the same, May 22.
In February, the Dighton school board voted to end the year on May 1, rather than May 22. It was able to do so because the board lengthened the school day by 25 minutes and the district had not used all of its snow days.
That change will save the 255-student district between $20,000 and $30,000, Superintendent Angela Lawrence said, and it will actually exceed the state's requirement for instruction time by 43 hours.
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