Feb. 20—It’s never too early to start planning vacations.

On Wednesday, the Albuquerque Public Schools board is set to vote on the district’s academic calendar for the next year, which would slightly alter breaks and the first day of school.

Some 13,261 students, staff, families and other community members provided feedback for the calendar. That’s almost double the number from last year, when about 7,000 people put in their two cents.

The proposed 2024-2025 calendar would set the first day of school back a couple days, instead bringing students back Aug. 5, the beginning of the second week of that month. The current school year began Aug. 3, the first Thursday of the month.

Most students’ last day of school would still be the final Friday of May, which in 2025 will be the 30th.

Winter break and time off for Labor Day would each be cut by one day, and spring break would be cut by two days under the proposed calendar.

And in a backpedal from last year, the proposal for next school year’s calendar would cut the seven extra professional development days K-8 educators are exclusively enjoying under the current calendar.

K-12 staff overall would get the same number of professional development days as the current school year.

Cutting the K-8 professional development days may help prepare the district for the possibility that New Mexico sets a requirement for public schools to spend a minimum of 180 instructional days with students exclusive of professional work time, a proposal the state Public Education Department put forward late last year.

This school year, APS planned 182 instructional days, but a PED analysis calculated the district would actually be spending about 175 days with students. A department spokesman confirmed the discrepancy was because of those seven K-8 professional development days.

On paper, the district would have 184 instructional days under the proposal for next school year, and that calendar appears to satisfy a 180-day rule, if approved.

After fierce public outcry over that proposal, the PED has yet to make a decision on whether to adopt it.

A provision in the state budget bill sitting on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk would prohibit the department from using appropriated dollars on it, but the governor, a vocal supporter of the 180-day proposal, said last week she plans to move forward with it.

She stopped short of announcing plans to line-item veto the provision.