Members of the Wichita Public Schools Board of Education have adopted a calendar change approved by the local teacher's union last month.
The overall school day will be 30 minutes longer, and the school year will be 15 days shorter for students in the district. The change trims about $3 million from next year's budget.
Betty Arnold, president of the local board of education, says the new calendar was one of two options proposed to reduce costs for next year.
"If we could extend the work day, we could shorten the calendar, which would allow us to save the jobs of the librarians as well as the changes we were looking at for custodians," she says.
Close to 70 percent of teachers in the local union approved the change at a vote last month as part of contract negotiations with the district. Teachers will work 175 days instead of 190 in the upcoming school year; their pay will be unaffected by the changes.
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