The traditional school year in the San Diego Unified School District will end one week earlier in June next year due to teacher furloughs.
That means parents will have to tack-on an extra five days to their child daycare plans in the summer.
The district plans to save money next year by requiring all teachers take five furlough days. That means teachers won't get paid for an entire week and students will have less class time.
The San Diego Education Association, San Diego Unified’s teachers union, determined those days be placed at the end of the school year.
Union president Camille Zombro says ending the school year early was the best option.
She says other districts are also wrestling with where to place teacher furlough days. Zombro says some believe they should come at more obvious times in the school year.
“That way the public and parents really get it and really have to feel what we feel but our members wanted (the furloughs) to have the least impact,” Zombro said.
Students who attend year-round schools in San Diego Unified will have will have a full-week off in April. They'll also have a four-day weekend toward the end of the school year.
Zombro says deep budget cuts are translating into big loses in the classroom.
“This generation is going to have less contact time with their teachers. They're going to have less instruction provided to them than the kids who came before them. And that's really unfortunate.”
