Senate bill proposes year-round school

OLYMPIA – The summer months are coming to an end. Children are heading back to school, but they are experiencing summer learning loss and now require remedial education.

Every year, teachers say the first month of school after the summer break is spent discovering what the students have retained and then reviewing what they’ve forgotten.

This learning loss disproportionately affects indigent students according to a 2016 American Education Research Association study.

Substitute Senate Bill 5147 proposes a four-year, year-round school pilot program at the start of the 2022 academic calendar.

The program would keep the 180-day instructional calendar, but would spread it over at least 11 months of the year, replacing the traditional summer break for shorter, more consistent breaks throughout.

If approved, school districts can apply for the program on a first-come, first-served basis through the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

For districts to be eligible during the 2019-20 school year, they must have had between 500 and10,000 enrolled students, half of which must be eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

During the bill’s first public hearing on Jan. 18, concerns were raised about the loss students would experience from a lack of summer activities, like camp.

“Summer camp promotes skills like communication, cross-cultural connection and perseverance,” Four Winds camp director Paul Sheridan said. “The solution isn’t year-round schooling, it’s universal summer camp.”

Other challenges that year-round schooling brings include scheduling difficulties for students who want or need a summer internship or job, vacation timing, air-conditioning costs and childcare.

In the Senate fiscal meeting for the bill on Feb. 9, legislators heard similar testimony, with minimal pushback from any party.

“The Legislature already establishes hours and days for instruction,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Assistant Director Katherine Mahoney said. “This seems like the natural third leg of that stool to ensure...that we’re mitigating that learning loss.”

The bill has not yet been scheduled for further committee hearings.