Superintendent says it may be a bad idea

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EASLEY - With continuing state budget cuts, public education is likely to feel the fall out, and some are batting around the idea of shortening the school week to four days to save money.



But school superintendent Dr. Lee D'Andrea said such a move could cause unintended consequences.



"We would have thousands of kids on the streets on Fridays," she said. "We don't have enough day cares and no place for many parents to take their children."



State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex said he isn't asking the state to adopt a 4-day school week, but he would like it to be an option on the local level.



However, D'Andrea said cutting out school on Friday should not be the solution and that it would force some brothers and sisters to have to watch their younger siblings.



"It may not be quite the solution it first appears to be," she said.



She said the problems a shorter week would cause would far outweigh any savings that could come from using less fuel for buses, heating and cooling.



She also said teaching assistants would have to work longer hours, which would cost more money.



However, the superintendent did say some changes could work out well. She said district superintendents, the state superintendent of education and the legislature are working together to find solutions that will protect student learning as well as employee jobs.



"We've asked the legislature to revisit the full flexibility proviso," she said. "We currently have limited ability to use grant money. With some state grants, we can only use the money for what it was originally slated for."



She said she would also like to see the required seat time for high school classes to be more flexible.



Currently, students must spend 120 hours in a class to pass the course, but according to D'Andrea, some students can work at a quicker pace.



She said utilizing end-of-course tests and allowing those ready to move forward would be helpful to those students and save money.



D'Andrea said unfunded state mandates were also a hurdle for the district.



"The EEDA requires career specialists in the schools and guidance counselors for every 300 students," she said.



D'Andrea said the guidance counselors are needed because of the challenges today's young people face, but funding for the positions is not there on the state level.



"The legislature intended to fund them, but they don't have the money," she said.



Currently, the positions are paid for with local funding, she said.

As The Sentinel previously reported, school district officials are preparing for the budget crunch, calling for the setback of more than $800,000 in supply and travel funds.

But school board member Alex Saitta said cutting classroom supplies was not the answer.

"Their priorities are wrong," he said. "The cuts should be confined to non-classroom accounts and cutting the fat that has been added in the past few years."



Saitta said that like all levels of government, the state has made a lot of promises it is realizing it can't keep.

"Likely, it will have to pull back on its promise to continue to grow education funding at this very high rate," he said. "The money is just not there."

He said the school board majority has grown total spending nearly 25 percent in the past two years.

"I voted against most of these increases and warned they'd be difficult to fund when the economy naturally cycled down," he said. "Now that's becoming apparent, even to the district leadership and board majority, which pushed for all this spending."

Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said the legislature may have to reconsider some state education mandates as they deal with the budget crisis, which according to D'Andrea, is constantly changing.



"We get an update almost weekly," she said. "It's a reflection of what's happening in our fluctuating economy."