The AP (11/18, Williams) reports that a dearth of state education funding to California districts could result in a "direct hit" to students, describing "the prospect of fewer school days that would make California's school year among the shortest in the nation and could worsen its already troubled school system. The state's schools face up to $1.4 billion in automatic spending cuts after analysts determined that California's revenues have come in dramatically lower than Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers had hoped." The piece notes that some districts in the state have already cut days from the academic calendar. "But cutting the school year quickly could prove challenging unless lawmakers agree to revisit a law also passed last year that was intended to protect teachers' jobs, as some school administrators would like them to." The AP notes parenthetically that Education Secretary Arne Duncan has urged districts to extend the school day.
The San Jose Mercury News (11/18, Noguchi) reports, however, that though districts are facing "painful" budget shortfalls, "the 2011-12 school year probably won't get any shorter. ... That's because school officials largely skirted a state law ordering them to ignore the possibility of dramatic midyear budget cuts when planning their finances earlier this year. And even though those cuts are a strong possibility starting Feb. 1, due to anemic tax revenue, many school districts built enough of a cushion into their budgets to absorb most of the blow."
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