It’s about time NJ ends this old school requirement

Before you know it the school bell will ring kicking off another school year in New Jersey (or beep, since most schools around here don't really use actual bells anymore). That means another extended stretch of learning in the classroom.

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By now, most schools have put out their yearly academic calendars including special events and holidays. That calendar also includes any additional days the school is closed, which certainly helps families plan in advance.

It's all part of New Jersey's 180-day requirement for students. For those that may not know, all New Jersey public schools are required to have a minimum of 180 days of instruction in order for the school year to be complete.

That also includes half-days and early dismissals, despite less instruction happening on those days. It's been that way in The Garden State for a very long time.

But should that no longer be the case? Should New Jersey finally scrap the 180 school-day requirement for good and replace it with something else?

Days vs hours

This argument really boils down to what makes more sense. Should a school year be based on the number of days, or should it be based on the amount of hours spent in the classroom?

What if instead of 180 days, we changed it to a fixed number of hours? Wouldn't that overall make more sense?

And if we were to make such a change, how might that look? Or more importantly, how would that work?

Hourly school year

Well, we can start by calculating the average school day. For this example, let's say the full 180 days equates to around 1,100 hours in the year, which also factors in the numerous early outs so many schools deal with throughout the year.

If we based it on that, wouldn't it make more sense? Schools can even build in hours at the end of the year to account for potential unexpected early outs such as snow days.

Should the full school year make it to June uninterrupted, simply drop those hours from the end. And if that means the kids get out earlier, so be it. But by doing it this way, our kids would always get a guaranteed fixed amount of instruction in the classroom.

Worth considering

At the least, New Jersey should consider testing this method out in some school districts just to see how well it works. As a parent of two-grade school kids, I would love to see equal instruction as opposed to partial days still being counted as the overall.

It just makes more sense and is more fair to the kids when it comes to academic growth. To my fellow parents, what are your thoughts? Do you think New Jersey should switch to an hourly-based school year, or keep it day-based? It's certainly worth a discussion.

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The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host & content contributor Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.