Washington-area school districts are bucking a national trend by maintaining and even expanding summer school despite their crunched budgets.
In Montgomery County, $1.2 million of stimulus funds were used to expand a free summer school program at elementary schools with large low-income populations. The money allowed the county to expand the program from 23 to 30 schools with full transportation services, said a spokesman for the school system.
In D.C. Public Schools, summer school enrollment has grown to 12,000 students, or more than one in four overall, according to a school spokeswoman. Last year, about 7,500 students took part.
“When you have a school system like ours where the kids are so far behind where they need to be, then one of the most precious resources at your disposal is time,” schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said in a recent interview with CNN. As a result, Rhee said, the school system “significantly increased” summer school availability.
Districts such as the District and Montgomery are expanding even as dozens around the country wipe summer options off their budgets. In Florida, nearly every district cut summer school options. Los Angeles public schools recently did the same, saving $34 million but keeping 150,000 students out of the summer classrooms.
In Loudoun County, summer enrollment jumped to about 3,370 students from 2,700 in 2008. In Arlington County, 600 more students are in summer courses, for a total of about 6,200. Alexandria’s enrollment is up by about 100 students.
“Broadly speaking, the area is bucking the trends by not making severe cutbacks, which is great news,” said Jeff Smink, policy director for Johns Hopkins University’s National Center for Summer Learning.
“There’s extensive research showing that particularly for low-income kids, they lose a lot of academic ground over the summer,” Smink said. “Summer school can have a big impact on the achievement gap.”
Only in Fairfax County is enrollment down this year, following changes made to limit summer school options in 2008 to accommodate budget shortfalls. High school enrollment is down by more than 1,000 students compared with 2008, to about 2,600 overall.
