It looks as though the Governor is going to sign a bill releasing schools from the 180 days of school
requirement. This would mean that districts would only need to meet the number of mandated hours
of instruction each year. So is this good or bad? While I’m a believer in local control of schools, this
could be a step back in educating our youth.
If the day requirement is dropped, districts would only need to provide 1,137 hours of instruction to
students in middle school & high school, 1,050 hours of instruction to elementary students and 437
hours of instruction for Kindergarten students. Four year old Kindergarten is not mandated in
Wisconsin. If the Cornell School District would only abide by this minimal standard, we would only need
to provide 163 days of instruction each year.
In looking at this from a financial standpoint, there would be a lot of savings in transportation and
personnel costs, but is it best for children? Over the last twelve years, we have increased the hours of
instruction to provide more time for the children to learn, and we have seen a benefit to doing so. If
there were fewer days, how would we possibly teach the same number of lessons we are now? Would
we see a decrease in student achievement? I believe more schooling, not less, will increase student
achievement and provide the children of Cornell a better opportunity to succeed after high school.
I’ve already been asked if we can now end school before Memorial Day, which would be possible if this
bill is signed, but is it worth fewer days of education? A better option would be to start school before
September 1st. However, state law does not allow this. In a recent interaction with a legislator asking
for the school start date to be eliminated, she said she has had no parents contact her and ask for the
change. So please, contact our legislators about changing this law. With fall sports beginning by midAugust, many of our students are already at school. After a summer break, they are ready to come back
to school; whereas in the spring, no matter if that is March or May, students are much more difficult to
keep focused on their studies. If nothing else, why not give local control back to the schools to
determine the start date that works best for them.