Assembly Approves Longer School Year
A bill that would pay for a pilot plan to extend the academic year by 15 days at Oxnard’s high schools passed the state Assembly with bipartisan support, officials said Wednesday.
“We are very excited about it,” Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Bill Studt told the school board. “The real test will come in the Senate.”
The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), passed by a 54-12 vote Friday.
Under the measure, all of the district’s students would attend school 187 days, instead of 180, during the 1996-97 phase-in year. During each of the following three years, the students would attend school for 195 days.
The students’ progress would be monitored to determine whether the added class time improves academic achievement, Studt said.
The plan would cost an added $1.8 million the first year and $3.5 million for each year thereafter, a price tag Takasugi called “a bargain.”
The measure will be heard by the Senate Education Committee on June 26.
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