L.A. schools leader considers shortened school year to balance budget

Los Angeles schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has asked his chief financial officer to study the possibility of shortening the school year to offset part of an expected shortfall of at least $500 million, The Times has learned. 

The strategy, if adopted for the 2010-11 school year, would run counter both to the direction of national reform efforts and to the wishes of Cortines, who agrees with research touting the benefits of an extended academic calendar.

"You know I fought fiercely for a longer school year and a longer school day," Cortines said.

At this week's school board meeting, Cortines said he had no alternative  but to consider all options. He added that some strategies had to remain off the table. He’s unwilling, for example, to make class sizes larger in middle and high schools. Classes are too large already, he said. Nor would employee furlough days be sufficient to make up the dollar shortfall. Cortines also stipulated that he would not shorten the school year for overcrowded, year-round schools, which operate on overlapping schedules that reduce each student's school year by 17 days.

Furlough days and shortening the school year would have to be negotiated with employee unions, said district spokeswoman Lydia Ramos. Cortines will review the internal analysis from Chief Financial Officer Megan Reilly when he returns from a weeklong trip to China, which began today, Ramos said.

-- Howard Blume

Comments

[Abesta 15]

i agree with the idea that shortening the school year could help because of the economical recession. This would definitely help benefit the economy for the reason that it would save money. On the other hand it will never pass becuase Cortines fought for such a longer school year. He has so much pull and authority that this will never be allowed to happen. I agree with the idea of shortnening the school year, but it will not happen anytime soon

[steve]

I guess if you WANT to fall even FURTHER behind in terms of education, go for it! That means more, and higher-paying, jobs for the rest of us. Good luck, California... You'll need it.

[annoyed at ignorance]

this is crazy - america's school system is already getting worse and worse. people need to look at youth today and see if putting them on longer summer breaks is going to help.

NO - it is a fact that students who attend school on a year round basis with time off in between retain much more than those with long summer breaks.

look at america academically compared to say....students in India. but hey - lets save some money and add higher tuitions...because educating our future isnt as important

[Realist]

In other words... people of color in poverty have already taken so many cuts that now it's time to start cutting from middle class america

these talks of cuts and middle america's anger is funny on a level... these are things people of color have been complaining for DECADES yet it is now only a problem because it started affecting WHITE middle class america...

[Carol]

We're finally getting off the year round system, adding back 17 days, and now Cortines wants to cut those days? And he says he doesn't want employee furlough days, but what are those besides furlough days?

There's far more to be gained by keeping the school year at its 180 days than by keeping class sizes small.

[Tim]

Why not use pay cuts to balance the budget ? That way we wouldn't have to shorten the school year.

[forthepoor]

LAUSD should declare bankruptcies, scrap all contracts and start over. There should be no reason why teacher/staff/administration benefits should further short change our students.

[christa]

just what we need... less education for our already underachieving youth

[paul]

School days and the school year should both be shorter...MUCH shorter than they are. The absurd notion that kids in school 24/7/365 (as it seems most people want) will produce more learning is nonsense! If you know anything at all about children and learning and education you'll know that more hours dedicated to pushing more facts at kids has NOTHING TO DO with real education; it only has to do with trying to increase scores and percentages and numbers..which tell us nothing of any importance about a child. It will only backfire. If the way schools have been run has worked less and less well over time (and it surely has), what makes people think that MORE of what doesn't work will somehow work better?

By the way, what does it matter what Indian children are scoring (as one reader mentioned here)? Even if it meant something (And it does not... which any reasonable amount of research will tell you), if someone in India were somehow to discover the cure for cancer first, do we really care if we can't say "We're number one!!"?

[Pat]

The teacher's unions are a pathetic lot, completely out of step with reality. They care only for their members, and little for the under-served students they are entrusted to teach. Mr. Cortines, do not shorten the school year; my 5th grader has 2-3 hours of homework 5 nights a week. We are increasingly having to do the work of the LAUSD teachers. While my children already get a sub-par education (part of which we are having to provide ourselves at home), the number of "early dismissals", "short days" and dopey holidays continue to mount.

Last school year my first grader watched movies for the last week of school while her teacher listened to his iPod and cleaned out the classroom to prepare for his months-long summer vacation. My child actually regressed in her reading skills while in first grade.

Out of necessity we have become a savvy "charter" school researchers; looking in desperation for an alternative to the detached, uninspired teachers and mind-numbing curricula in our neighborhood "high performing" elementary school. Thankfully we managed to place one of our children in a charter school (20 minute drive) and she is thriving beyond our wildest expectations. Our other child is on 3 different waiting lists - we can only keep our fingers crossed.

As homeowners we are taxed handsomely - you'd think we could get a basic, decent education in return. We are middle class Americans struggling to pay our bills and can ill afford private school for our two daughters. The whole business is disgraceful.

[VA]

What is going on!!! Is this for all the administrators in the middle schools and high schools so they won't have to deal with the "troubled" kids in their schools. This is why we need to have these kids in school. We would have less problems with the "troubled" kids, if they were taught to study, taught manners, taught to read, write and do their arithmetic. Teach them to be good community members. If they are not taught, they do not know what to do but keep the police in business!!!!

[Jill]

Shorter school year does not help the students nor the working parents. It’s an emotional and financial strain to families. The cost of summer camps and daycare is outrageous.

As of now, I volunteer during my lunch break to help my child's school and I discovered there are a lot of kids that need help.

Why can't these people in power step up and do their job? Instead of cutting what is essential, find solutions.

I believe we need new people who can think outside of the box and come up with creative ways to maintain the budget or earn money for the schools.

[InsideEdge]

Uh......The recession is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mewo nix]

Of course, the only solution ANY of these morons can EVER come up with is to short-change the students. Balance the budget by eliminating all these so-called administrators altogether. THEY are a DRAIN on the educational system as a whole, and many of them are HIGHLY overpaid. Dump them, and hire more teachers to pay more attention and truly educate our kids. Or else WHO are you gonna have looking out for you in your future twilight years. You want a bunch of uneducated idiots taking care of you when you're old?

[1900innoho]

Unbelievable! You can reduce the students being taught by NOT teaching children of illegal aliens. Also, keep the children in longer during the day. Or better yet, let private industry take over the schools, because the board and the unionized teachers are doing one crappy job of educating the students. It is embarassing!! Fire them all and let another company run our schools.

[danny]

Hey Cortines,

MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP GOING TO CHINA FOR A WEEK ON THE TAXPAYER DIME.

[Darla]

And this is going to make things better in the students' lives, shortchanging them of educational days?

The LAUSD needs to be dismantled and replaced with private school vouchers for all students, not just the economically deprived. Why not give more parents and forward-thinking teachers the opportunity to create something new?

I would order the mandatory retirement of every tenured windbag and replace them with non-union teachers and former union teachers who are willing to stand on their own two feet, without hiding behind the protection of a union.

[Jazzy]

Cut administrators in the schools period! I interned at a school with 5 administrators (they are called "displaced"). All parents should find out how many administrators are at each school site and go from there. Cut administrators! Imagine school counselors have workloads of 400+ students and in privates schools it is only 40 students to one counselor, if that. We are in some desperate times and students suffer the most when we are all suppose to be advocates for students, remember?

[benny]

parents stop expecting all your child's education to come from school!! A good percentage of my education (especially reading and writing skills) came from my parents making sure i was learning at home as well as in the classroom. And this does not mean you have to be an overtly strict parent, you can help your child expand their knowledge through fun activities together. Also by teaching you child at home you are ultimately sending that knowledge in the classroom and helping to better its environment for all the kids!

Parents today are relying too much on teachers to teach our kids!! My friend is a 5th grade teacher...she has even been asked by a parent to show her kid how to use a tampon. come on parents, it's your child take some responsibility and stop expecting that just because you pay taxes you can be hands off!

[bob 15]

More hours in class does not warrant a better education! Lets put in less hours and create smaller classes so the time is school is quality time, not wharehouseing time. The amount of real learning in the school can be accomplished in about half the time that the kids are in the classroom now. But the unions will not even look at this because it may cut down a few hours of teachers getting paid, (in actuallity it could increase the time if it is done right.) Concentrate on better learning not jus the numbers.

[Myln]

This is one of the dumbest ideas I have heard in a long time. Take a look at the test scores and you will see that LAUSD has serious problems, and only one of them is monetary. What impact will this plan have on the students?

[Chinchu]

Wow, what a novel idea. Why don't we make the school year be from September to July.. Like the ancients used to do before the school system was flush with cash to spend on teachers' salaries and cushy benefits.

The more things change..the more they stay the same.

[HAROLD]

i dont understand why we want our children to learn less....whats the logic in this...we should be pushing them to learn more.to obtain the knowledge it takes to be a productive and creative thinker....and later have graduate school options...can there be a reason why we dont want a majority to be educated...i dont understand how some folks can be making six figure incomes and the work doesnt show for it...along the way something went terribly astray from what this nation is capable of..GREED....GREED....GREED.

[Lisa]

First, This is a great idea! Giving the kids more time to learn outside of the standard low level of LAUSD will only help the kids in success for their future. Some may argue that kids will get into trouble with the extra time. Well, guess what? Those kids will get into trouble anyway regardless of hours spent in school because their parents are not taking the responsibilty to teach them. I'm guessing those are the same parents that think longer school days are a good idea because they just use school as a day care. Less time in school will give families an opportunity to spend more quality time together and also give the kids more time for outside of school activities like baseball, football, scouting, soccer, you know all of the things that will help keep them fit. Longer hours in school will increase the already "GROWING" population of fat kids. Kids get very little exercise in school and teachers only do the minimum required for PE. Most teachers are also only doing the minimum required for teaching and have to lower the standards so all of the kids can keep up. Yes, it is npot only the district and the teachers that are the problem. Parents need to step up and realize that their kids need to contine learning outside of school.
Provide them with all of the necessary items to improve their education because the school is only training them to be robots so they can grow up and step into a mindless job that they hate making too little money to survive.
Thank you for reading!
I'm a proud parent of a LAUSD student who has gone above and beyond the schools minimal standards and became Valedictorian!

[Larry]

Cortines should of thought of furloughing before he started cutting our work force thats needed in the schools. The school year shouldn't be cut because of his mismanagement of money.

[Inthetrenches]

When test scores plummet even further as a result of the shortened school year, don't forget to blame us teachers for that, too.

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

Who cares if LAUSD "schools" are in session for a full year? Most of the kids who come out of them don't get an education anyway.

[Lily]

Shortnening the school year? What about extending it.
" We the people should ask every single person over a 65,000 income that works for the school district to take a cut to 40,000 a year that would only be fair."
I think that schools should have the parents more involved in their children school. So we can all make different ways to fundraise for each school. Another good idea is for parents to pay a $65.00 dollar per school year or $100.00 per whole family per year. If you do the math that's a big help for every school that way nothing will be cut and our children will have a better education. People out there spend 250 and more on those handbags, shoes, etc. Now thats ridiculous!!! We are the best country in the world we help other countries its about time that our country helps us especially when it comes to school. Health and school should be the number 1 priority in this country. Then after we settle our issues we can help our neighbors after we help our people first. CORTINES AND EVERY OTHER PERSON ON THAT DISTRICT COUNSIL SHOULD TAKE A BIG FAT PAY CUT.

[Timray]

wow...i knew this was going to happen when the crook Bobby Nunez left....oh dear....oh dear...where have all the crooks gone...Sacramento!!

[Teacherin LA]

Waste? You want to cut some waste? A few teachers in my building were told that we were getting some doors replaced, and that this work would be done during the school day. Well, the LAUSD maintenance guys took a week and a half to replace seven doors. If I did what they do, talking on cell phones, hanging around talking, chatting up OUR custodian, and generally loafing, I would be written up.

So we put up with the noise and disruption to instruction for a week and a half, while the LAUSD maintenance chaps did what I would call a days work in that time.

I wouldn't mention it, if it weren't the norm for this branch of the District. If this was contracted out, we could get it done cheaper and quicker - with a guarantee of satisfaction. I support unions as a matter of course, but these guys are giving union workers a worse name.

And just so you know, there are teachers out here that care about your kids, care about challenging your children, and not just their test scores. We're under a lot of pressure to perform score-wise, so if you hear us talking about it, that is why. If you want to change it, support massive changes to NCLB, including the use of a growth model, rather than an achievement model of testing. The test and standards should be national in scope.

Shortening the school year would be irresponsible and an affront to Democratic American ideals.

[Unbelievable]

There are many things the District should be considering before shortening the school year or increasing class size. The teachers and their unions need to take a long look at their total compensation package. They have amazing insurance benefits like a $3 copay when going to the doctor while the rest of us are lucky to have any insurance at all. The union does their job by looking out for the teachers but at what cost?

Larger class sizes will only add to an ill-equipped teacher's burden. If they struggle to teach 25-30 students at a time, how can they be expected to effectively manage a class of 40? How many students will give up and be left behind? But heaven forbid should teachers pay $20 to go to the doctor.

[viewer]

Just kidding, right?

[Adrian]

Stop blaming schools! If children are not doing well at school, be a parent and help them learn. Students do well when Teachers and Parents work together. There is no money! What happen with the state budget? Why does this Governor neglected our children????

[JustAParent]

We need to stop punishing students for the failures of the state government. It is time to repeal the laws that allow 1/3 of our elected officials to tie the hands of the rest of us. We need change in Sacramento now to help our students.

[LA resident]

"We would have less problems with the 'troubled' kids, if they were taught to study, taught manners, taught to read, write and do their arithmetic. Teach them to be good community members."

So someone here is actually wanting schools to take over some of the parental duties as well, i.e. teaching manners and teaching them to be good community members. Those are character traits, not academic skills - which should be modeled and taught to children primarily by PARENTS.

And as for illegal aliens, don't get me started. I've had the experience of seeing children of illegal aliens within different races and colors that have outsmarted their own teacher and pointed out the flaw in their teaching (think of how the red-faced teacher felt). I've even had immigrant classmates as a young kid that wondered why our classes taught material that they experienced several years before - especially in math.

For some of these students, I think the reason their educational experience deteriorates over the years is because many of these families are transient. They may be bright, but if it can't be consistently proven on a homework assignments and the family moves before the grading period ends, then no one ever knows of their academic abilities or potential.

But back to the ranch ... I say lengthen the school day and make the kids do janitorial work around the school. I bet they'll value their education much more when they experience what could be the alternative.

[Jon]

Okay so many people here have it wrong (Pat for example). Look, this is not the idea, what needs to be done is BREAK UP LAUSD!!! The district is too large for its own good, uses archaic and faulty software systems (ISIS and SIS), and they do not want to be competitive with neighboring districts such as Long Beach. No this is not a union issue like Pat quickly believes! She must not have read the article, and blames the teachers for her child's faults. (This is typical of many parents in LAUSD). If the district were smaller, just like the city of LA, there would be better quality of services, and smaller schools.

Pat is wrong, Cortines is wrong...BREAK UP THE DISTRICT

[whitenoise]

For decades LAUSD has been criminally incompetent, doling out billions to outside contractors, consultants and overpaid bureaucrats. The district has abused its privileges, but those bureaucrats are still unaccountable.

Instead, many people want to place all the blame on teachers. Teachers make too much money, have too many benefits. The fact is, teacher pay is a livable wage, but only when we reach the maximum. There is a cap on teacher pay, and it is still below the average pay for mid-level management in an average corporation. It takes years to reach that maximum. We're required to take a number of hours of "professional development"--a euphemism for what is too often politically correct indoctrination that ensures a lack of student accountability--from consultants whom the district has paid millions. Professional development hours are included in our base pay. Unless one is a P.E. teacher, we spend numerous hours outside the classroom preparing and grading. As for benefits: once we become teachers, we forfeit Social Security and Medicare benefits. Yet so many in the public want teacher benefits and pension cut!

LAUSD is a failed system, and unfortunately most of the public continue to see only teachers as the problem. The overpaid bureaucrats, Cortines being at the top and the only visible one, are accountable to no one. His foray out into the streets to get drop-outs back in school is a perfect example of the district's failure: it's not about teaching, it's about sustaining this failed system. Bringing drop-outs back--young adults who need to feel the consequences of their choices in order to learn--is not about educating them, it's about getting money for having their asses in a seat!

[Dan Basalone]

You get what you pay for! Parents want schools to do the job of teaching their children with no accountability from the parents especially for student behavior. Parents want smaller class size, longer school year and the best teachers possible, but don't want to raise taxes to pay for any of it. Hmmm, something for nothing, that really makes sense. Take a look at the so-called best private schools and see that they are charging $25,000 or more per student per year in tuition and the State of California is providing less than $10,000 per year per student for the public schools. Do the math! In addition the private schools cherry pick their students and don't pay a cent for special education students who tend to be excluded and sent to the public schools. In other words, parents and others in the community who blame the public schools for not doing a better job, better look in the mirror and start taking some responsibility.

[Myesha]

THEY SHOULDENT LONGER THE SCHOOL YEAR ARENT WE IN A RESSITION ALLREADY AND THIS WILL JUST HURT US IN THE LONG RUN PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS TO PUSH TO JUST SHORTEN THE DAYS OF THE WEEKS OF SCHOOL AND LONGEN THE TIME THE HAVE IN AN SCHOOL DAY. IT ONLY MAKES SENSE.