The Cleveland Metropolitan School District has to decide in the next few months if it will get rid of the longer calendars at nearly two dozen schools. Having all schools in the district on one calendar could save millions of dollars but would also shorten the school year for hundreds of students, including some in the most successful high schools. Any changes would start next school year.
CMSD officials say recent research showed that — with a few exceptions — the number of days in the student calendar doesn’t translate to improved test scores in math and reading.
Parents, teachers, students and community members have strong opinions both in favor of and opposed to cutting longer calendars. Signal Cleveland heard from more than 70 people and assembled some of the most common questions.
How do CMSD’s calendars work?
CMSD schools have five different calendars. Each calendar has a different number of classroom days for students and professional development days for teacher training. The calendars have different start and end dates. The length and number of breaks in the summer, winter, fall and spring can also vary.
CMSD has 71 schools that operate on what the district labels a “traditional” calendar. That’s the typical calendar with a long summer break between school years.
Seventeen schools have “extended” years, but under that label, there are three different variants. Six schools have a “year-round” calendar. About 18 schools have days that start earlier or end later, including some of the schools with extended school years.
How many extra days are for students and how many are for teachers?
School calendars include days for classroom instruction and days for teacher training and planning. In some cases, the extended or year-round calendars don’t mean students are spending more time learning.
For example, students in three extended-year schools have the same number of days in the classroom as their peers in traditional schools. Teachers at those schools have 10 extra days for professional development.
Two of CMSD’s highest performing high schools at the John Hay Academic Campus do have 20 more classroom days than students at schools with traditional calendars.
Why is CMSD considering cutting calendars now?
CMSD is facing a budget shortfall. Unless it makes cuts, the district will spend more than it takes in by 2026. That is even with money from a recently passed levy. The district will burn through its savings completely by 2028 unless officials find ways to cut millions in spending.
Putting all CMSD schools onto a single calendar would save the district about $9.3 million every year. The bulk of the savings come from staff salaries.
CMSD is now moving more urgently because, as soon as November, Ohio could place the district under “fiscal caution.” That would give state officials more oversight over the district’s finances. To avoid fiscal caution, CMSD would have to save $96 million before November, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Stockdale said in a Feb. 25 Board of Education meeting.
Getting all schools onto the same calendar could also help even out educational quality across the district, said Selena Florence, CMSD’s Chief Academic Officer, at the Feb. 25 meeting.
When will CMSD make a final decision?
CMSD’s Board of Education has to approve any potential changes to school calendars. The board will not vote on any proposed changes until April. The district has to give teachers the calendar for next school year by May 1, according to its contract with the Cleveland Teachers Union.
District officials said they would recommend any changes during the board meeting on March 11. Their recommendations will be for the 2025-2026 school year.
Both Florence and Nicholas D’Amico, CMSD’s executive director of research, evaluation and accountability, said during the Feb. 25 board meeting that a recent study makes a case for eliminating extra days and putting all CMSD schools onto the same calendar. Researchers from the Cleveland Alliance for Education Research (CAER) — a partnership between the district, Cleveland State University and the American Institutes for Research — conducted the study.
The board will not have public comment during the March 11 meeting, according to Board Chair Sara Elaqad. Anyone who wants to give feedback about potential calendar changes can sign up online for the public comment period during the board’s March 18 meeting. If there are any open public comment slots by the time of the March 18 meeting, people can sign up at the meeting, Elaqad said.
Researchers looked at state test outcomes to help make decisions about the calendars. Did they look at other things?
CMSD posted a presentation with details of its study into the different types of calendars. Researchers presented part of the slideshow to the CMSD Board of Education during the Feb. 25 meeting. The presentation includes details about the study’s methods and statistical results.
In addition to looking at state test scores, researchers wanted to see how different school calendars impacted quality of life for students. They used a student survey to do this.
Students at elementary schools with longer calendars tended to feel more supported by adults, according to the study. High school students followed that trend to a less meaningful degree. Longer calendars did not have much of an effect on how students felt about safety or school culture, according to the research.
CMSD not ready to answer other questions
Signal Cleveland reached out to CMSD officials with additional questions from parents, students, teachers and community members. We asked how eliminating extra days would impact specialized programs and teacher certifications at schools such as the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, New Tech West and William Rainey Harper. We also asked if the district has plans to bolster after-school or summer programs and how a single school calendar would impact transportation costs and schedules.
CMSD Chief External Affairs Officer Lisa Farmer-Cole responded with an email saying the district’s staff are still working out what, if any, calendar changes they will recommend to the Board of Education.
“We are reviewing and discussing multiple scenarios regarding the school calendars,” Farmer-Cole wrote. “There are many possible outcomes, and we are working hard to ensure that we are protecting teaching and learning. Until a recommendation is presented and assessed by the board, we cannot be certain that the scenarios you’ve outlined will be part of the final proposal.”
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