The Oklahoma City school district says seven campuses will start and end their classes later in the upcoming school year, which will save about $700,000 in transportation costs.
The Classen School of Advanced Studies will now start classes at 9:10 a.m., along with Capitol Hill, Cleveland, Horace Mann, Kaiser, Mark Twain, and Westwood elementary schools. School will let out at 4 p.m.
“We understand that moving seven schools to the Tier 3 (9:10 a.m.) start time may be an inconvenience for some families; but with this plan we are able to save teacher jobs and our school leadership is looking at innovative ways of making the best use of this time”, OKCPS spokesman Mark Myers said in a statement.
The district says the change will eliminate the daily need for an additional 18 bus routes and drivers, which will also save on fuel, tires, oil changes, and repairs. The district is dealing with a $30 million budget shortfall due to a 2.3 percent reduction to the Department of Education over the prior fiscal year.
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