Four-day school week?
Here’s an idea of questionable genius from
the Idaho Legislature: the four-day school week.
House Education Committee Chairman Fred
Tilman said the committee would consider cutting the school week for the rest of
the year to balance the state budget.
Get out the dunce hats.
Other brilliant options on the table
include reducing the state’s share of bus costs and increasing class sizes.
The Legislature is desperately looking for
ways to deal with budget and revenue shortfalls estimated at $160
million—without rolling back the $123 million "permanent" income tax decrease
approved two years ago.
Let’s see. Instead of doing the right
thing, taking whatever political heat is generated and "raising" taxes,
legislators would entertain the idea of cutting the kids’ education by 20
percent. If cuts in the school week become permanent, Idaho students could see
their education shortened by nearly two and a half years.
What would the Legislature have parents
and businesses do? Can the four-day workweek be far behind?
If parents are working, who will mind the
kids? We can’t wait to hear the legislators’ suggestions to parents and
communities suddenly faced with school-age children with no place to go.
We’re looking forward to their advice for
businesses that may face disruptions when parents must choose between working
and caring for their children at home.
We look forward to their solutions for
getting Idaho kids into colleges that demand high school diplomas that reflect
12 years of work.
If legislators don’t kill this dumb idea
fast, they should replace the state motto, "Esto Perpetua" (Let it be
perpetual), with one that better reflects modern Idaho. Our nomination: "Duh?"