Some Schools Will Not Meet Mandate for Extended Year

Even with new financial incentives offered by the state, several large Ventura County school districts will not be able to stretch their school calendars this year to the required 180 instructional days.

And that upsets working parents such as Annette Halpern, who have to scramble to find someone to take care of their children when they are not in school.

“Our kids need to be in school more, especially with the mediocre test scores of Ventura schools,” said Halpern, whose two children attend Mound Elementary in the Ventura Unified School District. “And for those of us who work, it’s a logistical nightmare.”

In addition to Ventura, Simi Valley Unified and Oxnard Elementary school districts will fall three days short of the 180-day requirement.

Simi Valley school board member Carla Kurachi said the district will negotiate with its teachers to cover a full 180 days of classroom instruction next year. She favors the state mandate lengthening the school calendar but said not enough money is available to pay teachers for the extra time.

“If it’s that much of a priority, then they’d better pay for it,” Kurachi said. “This is another not-fully-funded mandate, and this has to stop in public education or we’re never going to get anywhere.”

As part of the budget signed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday, California schools will receive $195 million in funding to bring their calendars up to at least 180 instructional days. Many schools already meet the requirement.

The money will pay for certificated teachers to attend up to three staff development days beyond the 180 days students are in school. In addition, school employees without teaching certificates may receive at least one day of state-paid training.

Since 1983, school districts have been required to schedule a minimum of 180 days, but they could count up to eight staff-training days toward that total. That meant the schools were open and receiving state funding, but the students weren’t there.

Many of the county’s school districts have adjusted their calendars for the coming year to provide at least 180 instructional days. Ventura Unified, however, has yet to change its 1998-99 schedule, which currently includes 175 instructional days and five training days.

Jerry Dannenberg, Ventura’s assistant superintendent for personnel, said the district is still negotiating with its teachers union and expects to add some days to this year.

“Even if there’s not 180, there will be more than there are currently in the calendar,” Dannenberg said. If Ventura Unified cannot reach 180 days, he said, it will apply for a one-year waiver, as the new statute allows.

Also of concern to the parents, Halpern said, are so-called “minimum days,” school days that are shorter than usual, typically scheduled before holidays or for parent-teacher conferences.

“Because I’m a teacher, I know when school gets out at 12 o’clock, those days are shot,” said Jackie Hamer, an Oxnard high school teacher with two children at Mound in Ventura. “It’s like a play day.”

Minimum days are not unique to Ventura Unified. Many districts schedule some partial days, which count toward a district’s instructional-minutes tally.

Ventura Unified Supt. Joseph Spirito said he realizes the inconvenience and expense parents may encounter with the abbreviated schedule but has no better way to train his teachers.

Spirito said 175 instructional days “where teachers know what they’re doing is a heck of a lot better than 180 days where we hand them a book and say, ‘Go to it.’ ”

Halpern, who teaches at Santa Paula High School, said she sees the value in training, but “I would rather it be done before school starts.”

Spirito pointed out that not all training takes away from students’ classroom time.

“What the public doesn’t realize is we do a lot after school,” he said.

Spirito defended his shorter calendar, saying scheduling a 180-day instructional year before the budget--and new mandate--were set would have been financially risky.

“You never know what the governor is going to do. We didn’t want to gamble,” Spirito said, adding that several staff development programs are already slotted for the upcoming school year and rescheduling would be difficult.

School districts can’t simply adjust their calendars for the coming year now that students are required to attend a full 180 days.

With teachers’ contracts and work schedules already set, districts must either apply for a waiver or ask their employee unions for more instructional days and perhaps fewer development days. Ventura Unified is meeting with its teachers again Thursday, Dannenberg said.

Hamer said she knows rescheduling just weeks before school opens is a hassle but that Ventura Unified should deal with it.

“Too bad,” Hamer said. “You sit down and you redo it because all the other districts have done it. You’re glad you have the money and you work with it.”

Ojai Unified has traditionally had a school year at or near 180 days, Supt. Gwen Gross said. This year, Ojai will keep its students’ 180 days and take advantage of the additional state funding by scheduling the equivalent of three staff days after school.

Conejo Valley Unified has 180 instructional days scheduled, plus four days for teacher training, said Linda Sheridan, administrative assistant for personnel services.

Oxnard Union High has an extended academic year--195 instructional days--and won’t be changing its calendar because of the budget, Personnel Director Wayne Edmonds said.

Teachers at Oxnard Union work three additional days and can attend optional training programs. Hamer said she thinks the longer year in Oxnard contributed to the district’s recent increase in reading and math test scores.

Staff development days became an issue several years ago when California’s teachers received state-paid training days in lieu of a raise, explained Lucy Krohn, consultant to Sen. Steve Peace (D-El Cajon), sponsor of the legislation that lengthens the school year.

To pay for the development days, school districts decreased the number of instructional days, something the Legislature had not expected. “They didn’t count on them taking those days away from the students,” Krohn said.

Though 180 days has been the standard for 15 years, because of the inclusion of development days, the average number of instructional days for California’s 922 school districts has been 175 1/2.