Most folks already know that the length of the school day and the number of instructional days in the school year vary dramatically from city to city, and everyone's trying to do the whole "extended day" thing, but now there's an
interesting story in Catalyst Magazine (Chicago) that lays out what the economics and politics of lengthening the school day involve. Some examples? Adding an instructional day in Chicago (which has a very short year t 174) would run about $11 million, according to the article. Adding an hour per day (Chicago's is currently 5:45) would cost about $300 million. Other districts like Miami and West Fresno are doing innovative things to extend the day without breaking the bank.
