Costs

= __**Costs Associated with Year-Round School and Extended School Days**__ = **Mark Burchick, Andrew Edwards, Jesse Korpisz**

toc =__Projected Costs__=

The associated costs with year round schools and extended school days would be abundant. The main factor that is preventing their immediate implementation is these high costs (Silva, 2007). These costs are not just associated with the need to raise teacher’s salaries, but the myriad of utilities costs found in school buildings, According to Silva (2007), these would include building maintenance, electricity and communication costs, transportation for students, textbooks and other materials, as well as the costs to upgrade many buildings which don’t currently have the necessary lighting or cooling utilities for the continuation into the summer months.

According to C. Brown et al. (2005), the necessary costs nationally would require, “an investment of $21 billion annually for expanding and redesigning learning time, with $7.2 billion necessary to extend the school year in low-performing school districts (as cited in Patall et al., 2010, p. 408). However, the extension of the school year, especially into the summer months, is generally considered more costly than the extension of the school day, which would utilize the current school while extending the day length (Silva, 2007). The Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time Initiative, which seeks to increase instructional time by 30% in the school day, would costs roughly $1,300 extra per student per year (Silva, 2007). Terry Stroops (2009), an educational policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation in Raleigh, estimated the costs it would take to implement such a plan into the North Carolina school system, placing it at an annual cost of $656,500 to the taxpayer, just at the Elementary School level.

The changing of the calendar would affect the economy in other ways as well. Besides the cost to taxpayers, certain industries would suffer as well. The leisure, hotel, and camping industries, all of which see their highest returns in the summer months, require schools to be off for their scheduling to fall into place (Corbin, 2009). According to John Siciliano, executive director of the Wildwood Tourism Authority, the summer month revenue of Wildwood, New Jersey, a coastal tourist town, equals about $555 million dollars (as quoted in Corbin, 2009, p. 1). Seeing as this is a single example of the impact on the tourism industry, consider the blow this would have on the entire American economy.

media type="youtube" key="APAQFs3B53M" height="390" width="480"

=__Reactions to Costs__=

Year round school has been a hot-topic as of lately. While many teachers and parents are in support of the idea, the downfall of it has been costs. Administrators and guardians alike have voiced their opinions regarding the issue.

According to Edison Local School District Superintendent, Dave Quattrochi, "It would be tough for us to do a program such as this because of our finances. You have to weigh the costs" (as quoted in Ghrist, 2011, p.1). While Quattrochi believes that year round school would provide more time for student learning, several expenses need to be taken into account. Some of these include increased salaries for teachers, more food orders for student lunches, and gas for bus transportation (Ghrist, 2011).

In addition to teaching officials, parents of students have weighed in on the debate. According to Shannon Wetzel of St. John Eudes, Chatsworth, "The costs associated with this change are more than just financial and much too large for my family to bear" (as quoted in Expanded, 2011, p.1). Wetzel explains that they are not only sacrificing more money, but more time away from her children. “Four less weeks of summer time to spend with my children is a significant difference" (Expanded, 2011, p.1).

=__Where Is the Money Coming From?__=

The money for year-round schooling in public schools would be paid for the way funding for public schooling is already financed, out of the taxpayer's pockets. Regardless if you have children, just living in a district that has a school system, you will pay taxes that go to public school funding. The increase in funding for year-round schooling will simply raise the taxes of the people in that district if they decide to switch to year-round schooling.

An article on Year Round School Debates states that the main costs of year-round schooling would be “increased cost for scheduling” which would involve more money being spent, just to make the schedule for the year. Other costs pointed out by the article include, “new operational costs” described as “costs to comfortably accommodate students in summer months,” because many schools do not have air conditioning systems seeing as they don't use the building during the summer months. These costs and increased teacher salary costs for year round schooling would come out of the pockets of school district taxpayers. = = =**__Is the Cost Worth It?__**=

Our group agrees that no, the costs wouldn't justify an extended school day or year round school. The extra amount it would take to maintain the schools, especially on an annual level, is not worth the benefits. This also factors in the loss of time for other student and teacher activities, especially in the summer months and after school employment. This would include part time summer employment for college students, or necessary time allotted for internships. Fewer internships could mean a harder time getting into a job post college, detrimenting our economy further. The leisure industry, as evidenced above, would also suffer immensely because it runs almost exclusively off of the summer months. Therefore, all of the costs added up indicate that the implementation of a year round school system or extended school day poses an abundance of costs that is not currently worth it given the current state of the economy. Other measures should be taken to seek the same benefits that extended school days and year round school give. The taxpayer has too many burdens as is, among them the national debt, increasing taxes, gas prices, and job woes.

=__References__=

Corbin, C. (2009). Extended school year would have dire economic effects, critics say. // Fox News //. Retrieved from @http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/29/extended-school-year-dire-economic-effects-critics-say/ Expanded School Year (2011). Expanded school year: Mixed reaction from parents. // Tidings Online //. Retrieved from @http://www.the-tidings.com/2011/020411/comment.htm Ghrist, J. (2011). Local reactions mixed on year-round schools. //The Herald-Star//. Retrieved from http://www.heraldstaronline.com/page/content.detail/id/557587/Local-reactions-mixed-on-year-round-schools.html?nav=5015 Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., & Allen, A. (2010). Extending the school day or school year: A systematic review of research (1985-2009). //Review of Educational Research//, 80(3), 401-436. Retrieved from EBSCO//host// online database. Silva, E. (2007). On the clock: Rethinking the way schools use time. //Education Sector//, 1- 22. Retrieved from @http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/OntheClock.pdf. Stoops, T. (2009). Benefits of longer school day, longer school year do not add up. // Carolina Journal Online //. Retrieved from @http://www.carolinajournal.com/opinions/display_story.html?id=5703.

Year Round School Debate. //EducationBug.// Retrieved from @http://www.educationbug.org/a/year-round-school-debate.html

Image from: @http://www.compclass.us/yre/my_view.html