Disadvantage for School Year Round

Disadvantages for School Year Round

The adoption of the year round school format has been both a blessing and a curse. Educators believe that the year round school format increases the learning time for students, resulting in higher scores on tests. The downside to this schooling program is that parents have to decide whether to quit their job when the program is adopted in their area, hire someone to watch their children, or reduce their work hours if their children are only attending school part time.

Cost of Education

Since the year round school system has been adopted in many states, the cost of education has also increased. While students may be out longer during their spring break, they return to school in the summer, which are the hottest months of the year. The schools that operate during the summer have to pay higher operating costs since they have to run fans and air conditioning while the children are in school.

Parents who pay taxes in these school districts have seen their school taxes rise as a result of the year round schooling. This is a direct result of the higher operating costs in the summer. Many schools that have operated their schools year round have also found that their heating and cooling systems have deteriorated rapidly, at an increased cost to the school districts to replace them.

Parental Income

While students may be thinking it is great to have a little more time off in the spring, parents are probably not so happy. A longer spring break usually means loss of income for a parent, or they may have to use up all of their vacation time to stay home with their teens. Some parents who have found themselves in areas that have adopted the year-round school format have quit their jobs so that they can be home when their teens are. While many teens would probably prefer to be home alone, parents feel that for safety reasons they simply cannot leave their children home by themselves. Other students whose parents cannot quit their jobs simply become latch-key kids.

Immigrant families may also be hard hit by the school year being extended. Members of immigrant families usually make most of their money during the summer months. When children are in school longer, they suffer a loss of income.

Tourism Industry

Another disadvantage for school year round is the impact it has on the tourism industry. When students are in school all summer, parents can’t take vacations as they previously did. In states that have high numbers of year round schools (such as Texas and Illinois), they have experienced a loss of income due to the decreased numbers of families vacationing during the summer months.

The tourism industry is also affected by seasonal employment since the majority of their workers are older teens. In addition, parents that would normally work in their area’s tourism industry may not be able to if they have to watch children who only go to school part time.

Conclusion

Communities that have more students than they can house during a 180-day school calendar year have had to resort to year round schools. However, there are many disadvantages for school year round. Teens may enjoy a longer spring break, but they have to give up their traditional summer vacations. Adults are affected by the forced change in their work schedules or having to quite their jobs entirely.

School districts may also have to pay more in operational costs, which in turn raises school taxes. The tourism industry would also prefer students to be off during the summer months because they play such a large part in the business.

The general consensus is that there are more disadvantages than advantages in the year round school program. While the jury is still out on this debate, it will continue as communities struggle to accommodate growing numbers of children in their school districts.