I expect that this story is going to be a big one today, so to be clear: What Harris is proposing amounts to a pilot study of free universal afterschool programs in low-income schools, not an extension of classwork.
(And yes, the bill addresses the questions of teacher pay and increased workloads. @rweingarten of the AFT is supportive of how it's structured in that regard.)
As a matter of messaging, "stretch the school day" isn't how I'd have phrased it, so I'm curious whether that's how the Harris campaign is going to frame it or just the reporter's gloss.
Not sure why people are assuming I'm criticizing the proposal, by the way. I actually think it's a good one. Extending the school-day school-day to ten hours would be a bad idea. Providing universal afterschool programs at schools in poor neighborhoods is a good one.
Yes, the "productivity" framing is weird, but again, not clear whether it's coming from the campaign or MJ. But afterschool care for school-age kids is a huge problem for lots of working families, and building it into schools' programs is smart.
(Also, as the article notes, Bernie, Warren, and Castro all express support for similar plans in their platforms.)
And for the folks who are saying "we should make work days shorter!" Sure. But in the meantime, y'all support universal pre-K, right? And subsidized daycare? This is an extension of the principles behind those policies.
(Also also, since folks are asking, I'm pretty certain that the proposal is for the programs to be "universal" in the sense of "available to everyone for free," not "universal" in the sense of "mandatory.")
Still nothing I can see directly from the campaign on this, though, and I have to go teach soon. When they put something up, can someone slip me a link?
And here's Harris' press release on her Family Friendly Schools Act. harris.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
And here's the bill itself, which makes far clearer than either the MJ piece or the press release that what Harris is proposing is free after-school programs for families that want them, not an extension of the length of the school day itself. harris.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Thanks to @laurenonthehill for those last two links.
(The @karavoght piece tracks the press release's phrasing pretty closely, btw, so to the extent that there are missteps in the policy's messaging, they can be laid at the feet of the campaign, not the MJ story.)
I Have Questions about some aspects of the proposal, particularly about the bits where teachers would "volunteer" to help out with after-school programs in return for "compensation," but in general it seems like the plan is better than the rollout indicates.
I can see why Harris’ people thought “extend the school day” was a more dramatic framing than “free afterschool programs for poor kids,” but they should have anticipated the potential for misreading and prepared for it.
