http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2009/1/12/state-budget-woes-could-lead-to-shorter-school-year.html

State Budget Woes Could Lead to Shorter School Year
Sarah Elizabeth Carpenter
January 24, 2009
This article very briefly covers California's new idea to shorten the school year by five days. Hence making the school year 175 days a year as opposed to 180. This short five days will free up funds over 1.1 billion. However, lower income families who cannot afford private schools and have lower SES children are negatively influenced. These families who rely on their children being in school all 180 days feel that their children’s education will be sacrificed to save the government money. If California's legislature decided to pass this law then California will be amongst the other states who have also decided to cut costs. These states include North Dakota and Kentucky (as well as a few others).
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was the one who proposed this idea and is receiving a lot of criticism because of it. Due to the fact, that the Governor sends his kids to private school (as do many other politicians). The state of California could possibly be lying off 2,300 instructors in order to reduce costs by 400 million.
The proposed question in this article is this; students in the U.S.A. already have shorter school years than those of children in foreign countries. So over all will 5 days really affect the next generation. Does money trump a good education? In my opinion Education is one of the most important things in this world. Children should be taught how to deal with tough situations, however 1.1 billion dollars a year for five less school days. If the school board would agree to cut the amount of testing then maybe teachers would be able to give children the education that private schools give. Maybe fewer days would mean less exhausting tests and more real life education.