Passing Time

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A Judge hammer.

Grace McIver, Writer

Bill SB 2368, a few number and letters, right? Wrong; it is the legislative bill that will change the future of school systems everywhere and determine the number of school days a school must be in session each week. If the bill is passed, Texas schools will have a minimum of 175 instructional days, and at least 75,600 minutes of operation, including time allocated for instruction, intermissions, and recesses for students. State Sen. Donna Campbell believes that students cannot afford to lose anymore instructional time following the reading and math score gaps created during the COVID-19 pandemic.  This will destroy the 4-day week, because of the amount of time spent during the week. The 175 days (about 5 and a half months) and 75,600 minutes (about 1 month 3 weeks).  

SB 2368 will do more harm than good, and should not be passed.

People need breaks; without them performance will tank. Performance for schools that have a 4-day week do better than ones that are 5-days a week. If this bill is passed, the minimum day requirement will make the school year longer for 4-day schools. The students will get an 8-week break if the school continues with the 4-day week, that is Christmas, Thanksgiving, Spring break, and summer break all in 8-weeks. That will cause students to lose time with their family and other loved ones, and that would affect attendance and scores at school.  

Schools would lose a lot of money they are trying to save. With inflation and a growth in younger populations compared to the smaller older generations. It is very expensive to keep a school running, and for the most part the government funded schools (all public schools) are underfunded to begin with. The government would have to give schools more money to the 8,161 schools Texas has. The school would have to help the 609 students get a good education, which is nearly impossible without support from the government.  

Kids need time to relax from a stressful day and so do the teachers. It is hard to be at school for around 8 hours a day. From extracurriculars and normal schoolwork kids are crammed with homework and if SB 2368 is passed that means kids would have less time to do that work. It is not ok to think that one way of life is for everyone and being on a 4-day week helps schools keep from going under. If the students did not show up the school would have a hard time getting the right amount of money. Some schools have an issue with attendance now, but the 4-day week helped a lot. So, with that in mind, students would start not showing up again. 

Students might have lost a little education time during the pandemic, but forcing kids to spend every waking second at school will not help. For younger grades it is easier, but for older kids that might have to help with money or babysitting at home that takes away from the time they need to help their family.   

With this school year coming to an end, this bill, if passed, will go into effect next school year 2023-2024. Please contact the senate, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, email or call the senate committee. This bill cannot pass at the next senate committee meeting.