VIERA, Fla. – Brevard County school board members will discuss a proposed pilot program Tuesday that could lead to year-round classes for some schools in the county.
The board will discuss the plan during its 2 p.m. workshop meeting in Viera, ahead of the regular 5:30 p.m. school board meeting.
No final decision will be made at the meeting.
Earlier this year, Florida Gov. DeSantis signed a law that creates a four-year pilot program to test a year-round school system in five districts.
School districts are allowed to apply to participate in the program, and the state education commissioner will choose the districts. The state wants a mix of schools from different backgrounds in the program, with urban, suburban and rural schools included.
The goal of the program is to see whether reducing the amount of days students are off in the summer would decrease learning losses. If based on other year-round school models, the programs would have shorter break periods. It’s not known how those break periods would be distributed.
Approved school districts would begin the program in the 2024-2025 school year. At the end of the four years, the education commissioner will provide a report and recommendation to the governor and Florida Legislature based on those results.
American students go to school for about 180 days a year, with a months-long break over the summer and smaller breaks during the school year. But some school districts in other states, including Washington, Michigan and Tennessee, have what is called a “balanced calendar,” which changes the way those 180 days are distributed to allow for more even break periods.
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