Senate Panel OKs Bill to Extend School Year

A bill aimed at extending the school year for Oxnard high school students cleared a key hurdle Wednesday, winning bipartisan support from the Senate Education Committee.

Under the bill, students would be in school for 187 days in the new school year instead of the current 180 days. By the 1997-98 school year, students will be in class for 195 days.

“For decades, California’s school children have been handicapped by the calendar,” Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard), sponsor of the bill, said in a statement.

“They have been asked to learn in 180 days or less what their peers in China have 250 days to learn, what German students go to school to learn for 240 days and what Japanese students can take 243 class days to pick up.”

The bill, which passed with bipartisan support, would make Oxnard the first district to implement an extended school year in California, according to a Takasugi aide.

Oxnard Supt. Bill Studt was pleased by support shown for the bill, which provides for extensions that will cost the school district $1.8 million for the first phase-in year and $3.5 million for the next three years.

“We’ve cut back on administration and put every dollar into the classroom . . . ,” Studt said in a statement. “But we’re not seeing the results we want. We’re trying to teach 21st century skills under a 19th century agricultural school calendar.”

Although it has not been proven that a longer school year amounts to better education, Takasugi maintains that students are bound to learn more.

“This pilot program will give California a priceless look into the effectiveness of a longer school year . . . ,” said Takasugi. “I think that the rest of the world might be on the right track.”

The bill, which has already cleared the Assembly, will next be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee.