Also–on the arts proposal–if I understand right, it’s not for separate arts projects that an artist would come into the school to do with the kids. It’s for integrating the arts with other subjects. For example, put on a historical play to teach kids both drama and history. The teacher and artist would do it together.

Step two is celebrating and building broad-based coalitions in support of all varieties of public education (elementary, secondary, higher ed, and adult education), and partnering with advocates for health and human services, public transportation, parks and open spaces, public safety and the judiciary, etc. — all the folks that are competing for a piece of the shrinking pie this budget cycle — so that we can convincingly defeat the upcoming ballot initiative to eliminate the income tax, which flies in the face of common sense, yet enjoyed support from nearly half the electorate 5 or 6 years ago.

Having gone to several meetings about the proposal, and having talked to parents at the ELT King School in Cambridge I do this it’s a very exciting possibility. Personally, I would prefer having an extended YEAR rather than an extended day, because of lost learning over the summer and the problem parents have finding affordable car, but that doesn’t really seem to be on the table, despite the research that suggests that the disparities between rich and poor kids increases over the summer. (I’ve got no references for that; can’t remember where I heard it. But what a waste the first two months of school are, relearning what you had last year? My kids hate it as much as I did.)

Still, the possibility of having a day with some flex time–for more PE, more recess, longer lunch, time for shared planning between SPED and regular ed teachers; time for pull-out for extra help (whether remedial or extra enrichment), art, more time for reading out loud–it’s very exciting. But it doesn’t sound as if that’s the model that’s really being explored. What I hear more is the idea of having the regular day end at 2:30 and then bringing in outside providers, sort of like the 21st century clubs. For many kids that’s probably an improvement over going home unsupervised, but I wonder if there will be enough connection between teachers and these other providers to get the full social/educational benefit. For my own kids, I’ll regret the time just to play, which is so important for children (I was so glad to see my 10 year old hunched over a bunch of coins on her floor the other day, pretending she was a dragon–that kind of play is really important, and kids don’t have the leisure time for it and for reading these days, to their detriment). I’ll still support ELT because I think it will help many families, but I’m feeling less optimistic that it will be used as well as it could, given that most teachers are not likely to want to see their jobs so radically changed.

And then there’s the money piece. Like so many other things, the city will get the money for a couple of years, and then be expected to somehow come up with a way to fund it on its own. How is that going to happen?