Bills
| 3.23.22

Piloting Year-Round Education in Low-Income Schools (S. 325)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is S. 325?

(Updated March 15, 2018)

This bill — known as the All Year School Study Act — would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 with the hopes of strengthening year-round programs in public elementary and secondary schools.

If passed, the bill establishes a multi-year pilot program that:

  • Awards four grants to select institutions interested in trying to improve student through year-round programs;
  • Focuses on awarding grants to schools with year-round programs that specialize in science, technology, engineering, and math;
  • Prioritizes grants for low-performing schools with low-income individuals in high population areas;
  • Allows money to be used to increase teacher salaries — but by no more than 100% — who agree to work on year-long program.

The bill also dedicates 5% of the costs to evaluating the program’s effectiveness three months after the program’s completion.

Argument in favor

Year-round education keeps children out of trouble and has proven to be more successful than traditional schedules. Teachers who support year-round education should be paid extra.

Argument opposed

The U.S. needs to improve the quality of primary education before the number of days kids spend in school is extended. Lacks specifics on who is in charge of issuing grants.

Impact

Public elementary school and secondary school students, teachers, and school administrators, and the Department of Education.

Cost of S. 325

This bill has a funding limit of $4 million for the implementation of the pilot programs. This money would come from funds already set aside by the Fund for the Improvement of Education.

Additional Info

In-Depth: This bill was inspired by the Alain Locke Charter School in Chicago, IL. The school breaks up its school year into several quarters and has two extra weeks of school than the average elementary schools in Illinois. In this case, the year-round schedule for students seems to work: at Alain Locke, students test 25% higher in reading and 23% higher in math than the Illinois average. 

In West Virginia, more elementary schools are also experimenting with year-round education. (Don’t worry, kids, you'd still get a month for summer.) For students enrolled in Piedmont Elementary School's year-long programs, the year is broken up into several nine-week long quarters followed by two to three weeks off. Results of the program have been positive, but only by a small measure.


Media:

(Photo Credit: Flickr user Seattle Municipal Archives)