Board told schools may have to extend their hours

FORT SUMNER — The Fort Sumner Municipal Schools board heard on Nov. 21 that two legislative bodies are considering increasing the required number of classroom hours for school districts.

Superintendent Matt Moyer, addressing the board virtually, warned board members to expect extensive discussion about extending the school year in the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 17. The 60-day session will extend through March 18.

Moyer said preliminary discussions in interim meetings of the Legislative Finance Committee and the Legislative Education Study Committee have indicated the state may extend the school year from 1,080 hours (secondary) to 1,140 hours.

The elementary requirement of 980 hours may may be extended to 1,140 hours per year, he said.

While the effect of such an extension could be significant for many school operating at the minimum levels, Moyer said the effect on the Fort Sumner district would not be as great. Fort Sumner schools now provide 1,120 hours of instruction at both the secondary and elementary levels — 3.7% more than required. A mandated increase to 1,140 hours would add “about a week” to the Fort Sumner school year.

While legislators are pointing to the Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit as a key factor in their decision to mandate an extended school year, Moyer said the suit does not actually apply to all districts statewide.

The suit was filed by McKinley County Schools, and its decision was “not honest.” Moyer said the Yazzie-Martinez ruling was limited to specific schools and specific sub-groups of students within those schools.”

“It seems the state is trying to be heavy handed and take local control away by being more and more stringent about how local districts operate,” Moyer said. “I have no problem offering the services to students. Where the problem is that this is another poor attempt to answer a lawsuit with specific issues in specific schools, but not our school.”

He adde the additional cost of the extended year will likely be promised at the state level, but like previous extended learning programs, the funding comes up short of the cost to districts.