Rules Bent for Strapped Schools

(AJC) — Carl Sanders was governor the last time Georgia public school students were in classes less than 180 days a year.

But this year, for the first time since the mid-1960s, school systems across Georgia are compressing the school year into fewer days to save money. Systems just have to make sure they still offer the equivalent 59,400 instructional minutes.

The state is bending several long-standing rules this year to give some breathing room to school districts that have been slashing budgets and dipping into, if not depleting, their rainy day funds to offset lost revenue due to the economic downturn.

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