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SALT LAKE COUNTY -- Students in the Canyons School District will have five fewer days in the classroom next year.
Related:
Budget changes force changes in Canyons' reading program
The Canyons District could no longer afford to subsidize 29 literacy facilitator positions, but no one was fired.The Canyons Board of Education voted Tuesday night to take five district-wide furlough days to help meet a $13 million budget shortfall.
The furloughs affect all Canyons employees, from teachers to superintendents. It could save the district about $3.5 million, including $700,000 in operational costs per day.
The move reduces the number of days in the classroom from 180 to 175. The furlough days are scattered throughout the 2010-11 school year.
District spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook says the days were selected to avoid interfering with students' learning.
"Certainly any time we have cuts like this, a furlough, it's a disruption for everyone. But again, the criterion we try to do is to make this as minimally disruptive as possible," she says.
The furloughs are part of a comprehensive budget plan for Canyons. In two weeks the district will present its final budget to the school board.
This is the second year in a row the Utah State Board of Education allowed districts to reduce instruction days. Even though Canyons had the option last year, it decided against taking the furlough days.
E-mail: aforester@ksl.com
