Should school days be longer? Shorter? Florida lawmakers plan to give schools more flexibility

By at 25 January, 2010, 11:36 am

Much debate has ensued in public education over whether students should be in school for longer days and longer years, not to mention what time of day kids should begin and end classes. Florida lawmakers tried last year to give school districts some flexibility in how to organize their days and years, passing legislation that would change the the academic calendar from 180 days to a total number of hours to be offered in any fashion. (Some saw this as a way to move to four-day weeks, something that didn't gain much traction.) The bill called for the Department of Education to pass a rule to implement

the idea. But the DOE didn't act. So this year, the some lawmakers want to put the idea into play by removing the DOE from the mix. "Let your school boards decide," Rep. John Legg, chairman of the House Pre-K-12 Policy Committee, told the Pasco Education Summit on Monday morning. "Maybe less days but longer days would work. Maybe shorter days but more days. I think the state's role is to provide that flexibility. Hopefully we'll get it right in Tallahassee this year." More on the summit later.

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Should school days be longer? Shorter? Florida lawmakers plan to give schools more flexibility

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