The Brighton-based school district is likely to become the first district in the Denver metro area to move to a four-day school week.
The announcement comes after voters turned down a request this November for more local taxes, the latest in a string of defeats for the fast-growing district north of Denver.
Brighton is hardly the first district in Colorado or the country to consider taking this step, but it would be the largest and most urban. More than 100 districts in states including Wyoming, Florida, and Montana have already gone to a four-day school week. According to the Colorado Department of Education, 87 districts in Colorado have four-day school weeks, but until recently, the phenomenon was confined to rural districts.
Right now, the Garfield Re-2 School District in western Colorado, where 4,898 students are enrolled, is the largest district in the state with a short week. In contrast, the Brighton school district has more than 17,800 students, with 37 percent of those qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The district has grown rapidly as new housing developments pop up, often more affordable than those closer to Denver.
Changing the school calendar to four-day weeks is expected to save the district $1 million in the first year, but it’s not only a financial consideration. It’s also a way to try to retain teachers who won’t be getting the raises they would have if the tax increase had passed.
“The primary benefit is to attract and retain teachers,” said Chris Fiedler, superintendent of the Brighton-based School District 27J.
The average salary for teachers in the school district is one of the lowest in the metro area, but teacher turnover, which was about 12 percent last year, is one of the lowest.
Teachers will continue to make the same amount of money, but may have a more “professional” schedule with planning days built into the calendar on some Monday’s when schools won’t be in session, officials said.
The calendar change was first discussed by the superintendent with the school board in December. Wednesday night, the district launched a round of community meetings to inform the public and gather feedback. About 75 people showed up to the first meeting, a district spokeswoman said.
District leaders are negotiating with the teachers union to plan out the details. So far, Fiedler said the plan is to create a calendar for school Tuesday through Friday. Teachers would work at least one Monday a month for training and planning.
Fiedler said he believes creating a calendar where teachers “can be professionals” will be attractive. He said the district is already tracking an increase in calls from teachers wanting to know how much they would make if they were to transfer to work in the district.
Kathey Ruybal, the president of the Brighton Education Association, said the union surveyed members and found “overwhelming support” for the change.
“Teachers are already working a long day,” Ruybal said. “This will give teachers more time for planning but also to spend with our families.”
The school year won’t be longer, but classes on the four days that students are in school would run longer. For example, the day would be about 40 minutes longer for elementary students. The proposed calendar removes other interruptions in the school week such as planning days.
“One of the things we like most about this calendar is how pristine it is,” Fiedler said. “Right now there are already relatively few weeks where kids are there five days a week.”
A final decision will be announced in March. The change will not require a school board vote, Fiedler said.
Some parents say that process feels like their opinions won’t be taken into account.
“It just feels like this whole conversation is a smack in the face because the school district didn’t get the money they wanted,” said Salina O’Connor, the mother of a first-grader in the district. “There has to be another way. Why couldn’t the community choose?”
The district asked voters to increase local funding 16 times between 2000 and 2017. A mill levy override, a type of property tax increase, hasn’t been approved since 2000, and once again failed in November.
Tax increases in the form of bond requests, which is money slated for buildings, have been approved about half of the time. The latest bond program was approved in 2015, just after the district moved its high schools to a split schedule, saying it was not possible to accommodate the larger number of students in the existing buildings at the same time. That change was also met with many parent concerns.
With this year’s calendar changes, many parents are concerned about finding or paying for child care on the fifth day, or about athletics suffering because of one day less for practice.
And others, like O’Connor, whose daughter has learning disabilities, worry children won’t do well with a longer school day.
The district is exploring the idea of providing child care for Mondays when school would be closed, and Fiedler said sports teams will have the opportunity, if they choose, to practice Mondays just like they do on Saturdays. He also said schools will have the flexibility to plan the use of their longer day, including offering extra recess or another type of break if that’s what their students need.
According to a report from the state, surveys done in school districts that already have four-day school weeks show broad support for keeping the calendar that way once it’s in use. Research done nationally on the effect that a shorter week has on students is limited. Studies in Colorado haven’t found a negative impact on school performance, but that’s also still a concern for some parents.
Adding time to the days might mean the student time in class is about the same, but Kayla Cook, the mother of two students in the district, asks: “Is that learning the same quality?”
Most districts that make the change cite budget strains as the reason for cutting the school week. The 27J district expects to save money in part by needing fewer substitute teachers and spending less on utilities.
The $1 million won’t be enough to give teachers a raise, but Fiedler said he would like to be able to use it to add staff so that every elementary school has a counselor. The decision will be part of budget discussions.
Although the city of Brighton is growing rapidly, the tax base remains low. That means to generate the amount of money the district says it needs — to update curriculum, pay teachers more, and add school counselors — the tax increase that residents have to approve is larger than it would be in other districts.
In fact, some recent bond requests in the metro area didn’t actually require an increase in the tax rate, in part because increased property values were already generating more revenue. But for the 27J district, the latest tax measure voters rejected would have raised their property taxes by more than $73 for every $100,000 of home value. The average homeowner would have had to pay almost $300 more in taxes per year.
Fiedler says he’s now heard the community “loud and clear” that it’s too much to ask.
“We’re never going to tax our way to equal,” Fiedler said. “We want to provide our own solutions, solve our own problems.”
Fiedler said that for the next few years, he has no intention of recommending the school district pursue another mill levy override. He expects, however, that the district will have to ask voters to approve another bond in the near future to build more schools as the district continues to grow.
Seems these decisions are made without thought to impact on retention and best practices for students. Many students with disabilities need the regular reinforcement and schedule. Again, the low pay and respect for teachers is more an issue than days of week. Raise the pay and treatment of teachers rather than other band aids.
This illustrates the Red Whino Phenomenon. This phenomenon occurs when folks refuse to pay for services with their tax dollars, then whine about the deficiencies of said services.
Example:
Red Voter Joe Bob: “The government is evil and shouldn’t require my taxes!”
Also Joe Bob: “Our infrastructure is terrible, when are they going to fix these potholes!”