By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The State Board of Regents is mulling a proposal to extend the school year and make schools days longer, just as the city is preparing to lay off thousands of teachers to close a looming budget deficit.
Under the proposed plan (PDF), students would be required to spend 200 days per year in school, up from the current 180. The change would effectively cut the summer break in half, according to NY1.
All students would also be forced to spend a full eight hours in school per day, up from the current five hours for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade and five and a half hours for seventh through 12th graders.
"Research supports that additional instructional time leads to increased academic achievement," State Education Deputy Commissioner John King Jr. wrote in a memo to the board's College and Career Readiness Working Group and its P-12 Education Committee.
Other changes also being discussed include requiring students to complete four years of math and science classes, raising the passing score on certain Regents exams and requiring all students to take at least once Advanced Placement or other college-level course before graduation.
The proposals are intended to help better prepare students for college and work.
King recommended that the proposals be considered at the board's next April meeting.
