A bill to boost the number of school days for year-round schools died in the House Education Committee Thursday, but the committee unanimously agreed to ask for a performance audit of year-round education.

The committee agreed on the audit request after parents from the Granite and Cache school districts used the discussion on the bill to criticize year-round education.Jim Woodbrey, Magna, a parent fighting Granite's decision to convert Brockbank Junior High to year-round, called year-round education "nothing but the Dark Ages of education."

He complained about the most popular year-round schedule, where students attend school for 45 days and then have 15 days off, is continually stops and starts student learning. "Their education goes right down the tube. We are losing precious time," Woodbrey said.

Bill sponsor, Rep. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley City, said HB203 would add 10 days to the calendar of year-round secondary schools. He said he introduced the bill when he discovered most year-round schools operate 170 days, not the 180 days of the traditional schedule.

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Scott Bean, deputy superintendent of public instruction, said the schools with fewer days have lengthened their school days. He said there is no state law requiring 180 school days.

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