After holding ground in the House, advocates of the Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative are urging the Senate to increase funding for the program, which currently provides aid to 19 schools that offer more classroom time for students. (See grant recipients here; some 90 schools statewide have some kind of program with additional school hours.)

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a budget including level funding for ELT, at $14.1 million for fiscal year 2014. But Massachusetts 2020, the education advocacy group that launched the initiative, is urging an increase in funding when the Senate writes its version of the state budget later this month. In March, 22 mayors and superintendents called for an increase in ELT funding, in a letter released during a meeting of the Gateway Cities Legislative Caucus. Governor Deval Patrick has also endorsed an expansion of the program.

CommonWealth magazine executive editor Michael Jonas recently made the case for ELT, writing that “a longer school day for students in high-poverty school districts could make a big difference in closing the persistent achievement gap.” Jonas writes:

                    – Robert David Sullivan