Educational spending has been doing nothing but increasing in this country as our students have been failing at every increasingly levels. Often the school districts that spend the most per student are some of the worst performing districts in the nation.
When are we going to face up to the fact that education can't be fixed by simply throwing money in the the gigantic pot labeled, "EDUCATION," and hoping that the government officials that have been failing so far will magically be able to fix everything with a few billion more of this nation's tax dollars?
To answer the OP. I think that a 4-day school week is a terrible idea - but I support year-round school and more rigorous expectations on students and teachers with drastically increased support from administration. That being said - if a school has these things (high expectations on students, teachers, administrators...and high support for/from students,teachers, and administrators) then I think that they can accomplish in 4-day weeks what so many schools are failing at with 5-day weeks.
The only thing I would add, that could make your analysis a reality, is for parents ( the most important element ) to support the school's teachers and adminstrative policies, and often, even if you could track them down, they aren't going to. The kids know this and this gives the power to the students. ( I know there are exceptions )
