No exceptions: 180 days of school

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett recently announced that starting next year, schools can no longer count half-days toward the 180 full days each year required by state law. He also ordered they make up days cancelled because of bad weather, as is also the law.

It’s funny how upset people can get when an official simply asks that a law is enforced.  

One would think Bennett’s announcement would be greeted by nary a bad word from anyone – aside from high school students with acute senioritis – but it turns out some politicians are getting just as riled up.  

Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives proposed a bill adding language to the state law that would allow schools to count half-days used for teacher training and parent-teacher conferences.

Thankfully, Gov. Mitch Daniels has promised to veto the measure in the unlikely event it makes it through a Republican-controlled Senate.

While we agree that teachers need adequate training and teacher-parent interaction is important, whittling away at the number of days children are in school is not the answer.

With the school year making up less than half of the calendar year, kids aren’t really in school that much already. Initiatives for year-round schooling have been in the works for years, as more research accumulates that suggests momentum is lost over the summer break.

We’re not advocating the elimination of the summers-off structure, but it seems like a few extra days in the school year to accommodate teacher training and parent conferences would be pretty painless.

Not only do we find the House Democrats’ position potentially damaging to students, we also find their behavior toward this issue a little embarrassing on the whole. For a party that touts itself as an advocate of education, working to keep kids out of school is a pretty lame move.

When it comes to this issue, we’re with Mitch.