REGIONAL- The St. Louis County school district is among many districts in the state considering a shift to a four-day week from it’s current Monday through Friday classroom schedule as a way to deal with budget shortfalls. The possible change was both a topic at last week’s working session of the school board and the subject of a letter sent to district parents explaining the proposed move.
No decision has been made as the district seeks input from district residents through a survey that was to be distributed this week. Superintendent Reggie Engebritson said Tuesday that a decision would need to be made by January in order to facilitate the required application process through the Minnesota Department of Education.
For those who wonder how school districts could be hurting for cash after the historic $2.3 billion state investment in education in 2023 and supplemental enhancements this year, Engebritson clarified what happened.
“I think the biggest reason would be the strings or the mandates that are attached to (the extra funding),” Engebritson said. “It’s just not money handed over to go into our general fund for any purpose. The money is tied to certain things that you can spend it on.”
So, while legislators increased the funding, they also told districts what they could use most of that money for, and many of those things fall outside of a district’s general fund, the pot of money that supports direct classroom education activities. For example, if the district realized savings in the money that the district received from the state to support wastewater treatment facility renovations at South Ridge School, those savings could not be transferred to the general fund for other expenses.
Another major problem for ISD 2142 is a decrease in enrollment. The district hit a high of 2,016 in what’s called daily average membership, or ADM, in 2019-20, but took a big hit during the COVID pandemic when many parents pulled their children from school-based instruction. Now at a projected 1,860 for the current academic year, the district has fewer students than it did in 2013-14. While inflation as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic increased by 33.2 percent over the past ten years, having fewer students has cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost per-pupil payments to meet those added expenditures. The district took the unpleasant step of eliminating 11 teaching positions from this year’s budget, and more staff cuts could be forthcoming next year if they don’t find a way to deal with a projected budget deficit.
Changing to a four-day attendance week would go a long way toward ameliorating that shortfall, Engebritson said. The district has estimated that eliminating attendance on Fridays would save approximately $526,000. The savings would come from a variety of areas, Engebritson said, including reduced transportation costs and building operation expenses.
“We need to explore this option,” Engebritson said. “If we have to make more budget cuts, it would be difficult for me to cut staff when, if I was the union representative for the staff I’d be saying did you explore all options? Could it save us from having to cut teachers or staff because our numbers are down? We need to explore this.”
As districts have a state requirement to provide a minimum number of instructional hours, ISD 2142 would stay within those requirements by lengthening school days, Engebritson said.
“High school kids have to have 1,020 hours of instruction, elementary kids have less. We made sure with the longer day, from 8 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., that we still meet that requirement of the state,” Engebritson said,
The daily schedule would also be consistent across all four days, a change in the current practice of having a different schedule on Wednesdays to accommodate alternative learning opportunities.
Engebritson said the research on the impact for academic achievement is mixed, but in conversations with other Minnesota districts that have implemented a four-day schedule she’s learned that there appear to have been no detrimental effects on performance on state standardized tests.
“You can find research to support any position that you have,” Engebritson said. “The three or four districts I reached out to didn’t find that academically anything had changed. It really depends on the student, and we’ve worked hard to make sure we’re meeting students where they’re at and giving them what they need and that would not change.”
One documented benefit of a shortened attendance week has been improved mental health among both staff and children, Engebritson said. Mental health has been a priority for ISD 2142, and with the increased stress created by the pandemic any help in improving mental health would be beneficial, she said.
Engebtitson added that she anticipated few if any changes to the district’s sports programs, and noted that by reallocating instructional time to Monday through Thursday, varsity athletes with Friday contests would miss fewer hours of instruction than they currently lose due to long road trips for away games that disrupt their learning.
Engebritson acknowledged that not having school on Fridays could present challenges to parents who might need day care for their children, given the lack of licensed care opportunities in many of the communities served by ISD 2142. She said that some districts had tried offering care themselves but said that parents found other options and they ended up discontinuing those programs. Engebritson said the district is willing to “work creatively” with families and communities to help provide care options for children.
Engebritson emphasized that no decision has been made, and that the district is merely exploring the option of a four-day week. She said that two school board members expressed concerns about academics, but that the majority of board members appeared open to the idea.
Engebritson said she was wrapping up work on a districtwide survey on Tuesday that would be distributed via email and on school Facebook pages later in the week. The survey is not limited to parents of current students, but can be completed by anyone living in the district. Engebritson said she surveyed the district’s teachers last spring and that the overwhelming majority were interested in the switch.
A proposed change has to be approved by MDE, and Engebritson said that an application has to demonstrate that a district has reached out to the community and its employee unions. Multiple districts can apply together, although it’s unclear what specific benefits might accrue under such a collaboration, but Engebritson said she has contacted a number of districts that may be considering a similar move but doesn’t know if the district would seek partners formally for an application or not.
Engebritson said she’s waiting on the state to provide a concrete application timeline for next year, but to be ready as a decision has to be made by January. If the district decides to apply and is approved, the approval would likely be for six years with the need to renew its status at that time.