Shift In The School Year Could Cut Two Weeks From Sacramento City Unified Summer Vacation

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Students in Sacramento could be in for a big change this summer. Sacramento City Unified School District announced Wednesday a proposal to move the first day of school up by two weeks. The change could go into effect as early as this August.

"This proposed change would put us more in line with all of the other school districts in this region and it would create more opportunities for our students," said Alex Barrios, a spokesperson for the district.

The proposed change would move the first day of school from right around Labor Day to mid-August. But this year, it would cause families to lose out on two weeks of summer vacation. The district says it's worth it but some parents say it's too late with just eight months notice.

"I think it's a good idea," said mom Debbie Reynolds.

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Barrios says students in Sac Unified often lose out on summer job opportunities or college courses because of their delayed start to summer.

Allyson Spurlock, a sophomore at McClatchy High School, says the way things are now is a bit of an inconvenience.

"Now in high school having finals after winter break is kind of a pain, so I'm kind of leaning towards starting earlier might not be so bad," she told CBS13.

Barrios told CBS13 that problem would disappear with the shift in the school calendar. Additionally, the change would give students in AP classes more instruction time before the May exams.

"I took AP Biology last year and the curriculum had to be like significantly sped up in order to accommodate for the AP test dates," Spurlock said.

Reynolds told CBS13 that her son not getting out until June was a big problem for her family last summer.

"And I can't remember what it was but there was something we had to do and we had to wait for him to finish school," she said.

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But mom Michelle Mahon doesn't like the idea of cutting this summer short, saying she knows plenty of families whose plans could be disrupted with such a big change.

"I wasn't very pleased with it," she told CBS13. "I feel that either families are going to be out financially for vacation or the school district is going to be impacted financially because of attendance."

Barrios reminds families it's not set in stone just yet.

"Well, we'll certainly work with parents if they have concerns, we'll certainly listen to their input," he said. "This is a proposal at this point and we look forward to hearing feedback from the community:"

The district also says moving the school year up would give them more options when it comes to hiring teachers. Barrios told CBS13 sometimes the pool of applicants is small because teachers have already made commitments to other districts.