8 May 11–17, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents ample, House Bills 1126 and 737, filed by Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Dem- ocrat, and Houston Democrat Armando Walle, respectively, would increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. Rep. Vikki Goodwin, an Austin Democrat, went even further with her House Bill 1919, which would increase the minimum wage to $17 an hour. Two identical bills filed in the state’s House and Senate would allow mu- nicipalities to set their own minimum wages. The federal bill has been introduced and referred to committees but it has yet to re- ceive a hearing. Rogers said that the bill seems promising but the way it is written could cause the city to lose airport funding and infrastructure grants. She said the city’s federal legislative team, the Department of Aviation and DFW International Airport are all working to- gether on how to move forward with the federal bill. ▼ EDUCATION “SLAPPING A BAND-AID ON IT” ARE 4-DAY SCHOOL WEEKS GOOD FOR NORTH TEXAS STUDENTS? BY SIMONE CARTER I n an effort to retain teachers, who are flee- ing the profession at alarming rates, some Texas districts are introducing four-day school weeks. Administrators who favor of the new schedules have touted them as good for educators and students alike. Yet critics fear that the shift is actually detrimental to kids and families at a time when schools are still recovering from pan- demic-induced learning loss. Anna ISD recently announced that it’s moving to a new four-day schedule next school year. Nash House, who has a child in the North Texas district, has “mixed feel- ings” about the change. On the one hand, House is happy about it because students are under a lot of stress, and she said her child and others have been bullied. “In that aspect, I’m glad because it gives the kids an extra day at home to kind of rest and relax,” she said. On the other hand, “In- stead of actually eliminating the problem and helping their teachers, I feel like they’re just slapping a Band-Aid on it so that they don’t have to really do any legwork to help them.” Several other North Texas school dis- tricts have embraced the four-day school week. Even if such a move stanches a wors- ening teacher shortage, some education ad- vocates warn that it may harm students in the long run. House also wonders what this might mean for academics. Her son, who struggled with remote learning amid COVID, needs in-person, one-on-one time to effectively learn. She worries that cramming five days’ worth of academic work into four could po- tentially cause grades to plummet. “I feel like academically, it is going to af- fect them negatively,” House said. Some studies support the idea that shorter weeks are tough on students, espe- cially for younger ones. One researcher found that, over the span of 15 years, four- day weeks led to test scores dropping by 4% in reading and 6% in math, according to the Texas Classroom Teachers Association. In a February column for The Dallas Morn- ing News, former Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and former Richardson ISD Superintendent Jeannie Stone argued that there are better ways to support educators than through a four-day school week. They noted at the time that at least 40 districts in Texas had rolled out the new schedule, and more than a dozen other districts planned to follow suit the following year. The Texas Education Agency requires districts to provide 75,600 minutes of in- struction each year, Hinojosa and Stone wrote. As long as they meet that require- ment, they can technically divide up the time to create a four-day schedule with lon- ger school days. Another Anna ISD parent and volunteer, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, noted that fewer days may also mean that vulnerable students — like Kelly Dearmore The Good Jobs Good Airports Act would establish a minimum wage at $15 an hour. Unfair Park from p6 >> p10
