Lengthening the School Year Will Hurt Schools

By John Moir

Education issues formed the centerpiece of many of the governors' "State of the State" addresses in January. But along with such welcome reforms as reducing class size came a fiscal time bomb from California's Gov. Pete Wilson: lengthening the school year.

At first glance, it may sound reasonable to improve student performance by requiring kids to attend more school. But as a teacher, I find it disquieting to contemplate the prospect of a longer year draining away hundreds of millions of dollars while far more urgent educational priorities are neglected.

Every day's expansion of the school year in California will cost $50 million. Increasing the school year by seven days, as Gov. Wilson wants to do, would add more than a billion dollars every three years to the...