Energy costs are affecting our schools

by desertjim

Last week’s TIME magazine (August 23, 2008, page 69) had an interesting article about schools adopting four-day weeks in order to save energy on bus routes, air-conditioning and other costs. I didn’t think too much about it because the laws in Illinois require a minimum number of school days, so such a four-day plan is impossible for most of the readers of this blog.

Today, the Associated Press published an article which expands on the effects that high energy prices are having on schools all over the country. It’s not just school bus fuel that is impacting school costs. Electricity for air conditioning, heating oil, even delivery costs for cafeteria food are going up along with diesel fuel for the buses.

Schools in 17 states have gone to the four-day week. In most cases, this means each school day is longer. We all know the attention span of our students and may well question the usefulness of longer school days. Some schools are adjusting to the shorter school week by cutting electives, thus increasing the percentage of the day spent on reading and writing and test preparation that had already gone up under No Child Left Behind. Needless to say, field trips are disappearing from the curriculum in most locales.

Parents are finding the costs of school supplies and back-to-school clothes has also increased. For some families, this means cutting back on purchases or accepting the idea of increasing credit card debt. Increased costs for school lunches may well lead to a lot more kids brown-bagging it for lunch. (I can actually see some benefits in that - while I was still teaching, I always liked the lunches I packed better than the cafeteria food).

As the school year begins, all of our schools will see long-lasting financial effects from the current energy crunch. How the schools deal with these fiscal problems will certainly affect what happens in the classroom. Will suburban and rural districts have to rethink their bus routes as fuel costs continue to increase? Are longer days really going to result in more learning each day? Will cutting electives to save time result in schools becoming deadly dull test preparation academies? What will your school and district do in response to higher energy costs?

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I couldn’t imagine teaching in a 4 day school week. Students can only absorb so much information a day and I think this will really hurt the retention of information. Will be interested to seeing how standardized test scores compare between 4 day and 5 day schools. This would also impact the need for child care for parents who work 5 days.

"This would also impact the need for child care for parents who work 5 days.”

Pat makes an excellent point. The poorest school districts are usually located in this nation’s most economically challenged areas. So the districts most likely to close one day a week to save money will end up transferring day care costs to those most unable to pay them.

Seems like a classic “Catch 22” situation.