Tag Archives: summer vacation

Hawkins applauds school districts for exploring school calendar reform

State Sen. Brad Hawkins is pleased to learn that several Washington school districts are looking into whether taking shorter breaks throughout the year – and trimming the traditional summer break – will help prevent annual learning loss and the need for fall reteaching.

A KING-TV story reports that, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 18 school districts and one charter school are using grant funding to explore shortening the traditional summer break to allow for what’s known as a balanced school calendar.

“We need to think big about reforming the system and to get serious about exploring better opportunities for student learning. A more ‘balanced school calendar’ that avoids that big, long break in the summer could really help students,” said Hawkins. “I certainly support a summer break for kids and their families, but I think the typical break that school districts take is too long and it’s an outdated model.”

During the 2021 legislative session, Hawkins prime-sponsored a bill to encourage school districts to explore school calendar reforms. Hawkins’ bipartisan legislation, Senate Bill 5147, included funding pilot projects for districts to apportion their 180 state-funded school days differently, including shortening their summer break to no more than six weeks.

The school-calendar reform bill was amended and passed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee but was not approved by the full Senate earlier this year. Hawkins hopes SB 5147 will either advance through the Legislature during the upcoming 2022 session or continue to gain attention within the education community to encourage districts to explore modernizations on their own.

“The fact that so many school districts across Washington are now showing interest in reforming their school calendars is a sign that prior efforts to encourage districts to ‘think differently’ are working,” said Hawkins. He added, “We should continue to emphasize how changes can be beneficial for students and taxpayers.”

Hawkins is the ranking Republican member on the Senate’s Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee. Hawkins served for 10 years on the Eastmont School Board and North Central Educational Service District Board before being elected to the Legislature

These links provide more information about Hawkins’ school-calendar reform bill:

Republican education leader urges school districts to consider swapping this year’s spring and summer breaks due to COVID

It has been a difficult year for students, parents, and school officials. With a limited percentage of Washington school districts offering in-person instruction and very few districts, if any, back to their usual operations, 12th District state Sen. Brad Hawkins is urging districts to think differently about how to maximize their 180 state-funded school days for the remainder of the school year.

“I am a big proponent of reimagining the school calendar in the long term, especially as our state prepares to pull out of this pandemic, but this year is unique and also presents an opportunity for us to think differently,” said Hawkins, a former school board member, father of two public school students, and the ranking Republican member on the Senate’s Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.

Hawkins is urging the state’s 295 school districts to consider swapping their normal one-week spring break with their usual 10-12-week summer break and then resuming the remainder of their 180 school days throughout the summer, in-person, to prepare for the 2021-22 school year. By doing this, Hawkins says, school staff will be vaccinated, COVID rates will likely be down, and all districts could offer full in-person instruction. Also, the districts will have had plenty of time to prepare for the summer instruction, with the extended spring break.

Hawkins added, “The state provides districts full flexibility on how they spread their 180 instructional days. Most school districts would agree that in-person instruction is ideal. With the state taking so long for school employee vaccinations and few districts seemingly eager to resume their full operations, it makes sense to me to cut those losses, swap those breaks, and move ahead.”

Hawkins acknowledges that a mid-year school calendar change is not without its challenges, including gaining support from unions and local bargaining groups. The Legislature just approved House Bill 1368, which allocates $2.2 million in COVID relief, including over $700 million for K-12 education assistance.

“Districts can utilize some of those dollars or savings from other areas of their operations during the pandemic to negotiate a one-time fix for the summer schedule,” said Hawkins.

“We definitely can’t have the teachers’ union or some districts resisting the reopening of schools because they are so fundamental to our communities and families. We all need to work together to make sure all students receive the education they deserve. I’m proposing another option to help do this,” added Hawkins.

Hawkins concluded, “We need to figure out something. Our students and families deserve it.”