NORTH COUNTY -- Shortening the school year by a week could save districts throughout the state more than $1 billion, but local educators say they think it would be bad for both teachers and students.

"In this era of high-stakes testing and accountability, we believe our students deserve all the education they can get," said Nicole Pappas, president of the Carlsbad Unified school board.

In a budget proposal released late last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested allowing districts to reduce the number of days students attend class from 180 to 175 starting this fall.

The proposal called for more than $4 billion in cuts to education spending as part of more than $17 billion in statewide cuts aimed at shoring up an estimated $42 billion deficit expected over the next 18 months.

State education spending, which includes community colleges, went from $57.5 billion in 2007-08 to $57.1 billion this fiscal year. Schwarzenegger has proposed spending $56.3 billion next year, down more than $1 billion from this year's amount.

Under the governor's proposal, no district would be required to shorten the school year.

"It's 'You may' as opposed to 'You shall,' " said H. D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance.

However, it may be the only way some districts will be able balance their budgets, in light of the cuts at the state level, educators said.

Local educators don't seem sold on the idea.

Because it would be up to districts to decide if they wanted to keep students in school more than 175 days, there is a fear that only wealthier districts would be able to afford the extra days, said Jim Growth, a member of the California Teachers Association's board of directors and a teacher in Chula Vista.

In addition, teachers unions are unlikely to agree to what would basically amount to a pay cut.

"That would be a hardship for a lot of our teachers, especially our beginning teachers," Growth said.

Having five fewer days also would make it difficult for educators to teach students everything they need to over the school year, said Michael Harrelson, a speech therapist at Ramona High School

"We're trying to squeeze every minute out of every day, because there's so much demanded of us," he said. "A decision like this would be asking educators to decide what not to teach children, and that kind of runs counter to everything that we're dedicated to."

Most parents and educators asked Friday said they think students should be in the class more, not less.

"Teaching and learning have everything to do with time at task," said Joyce Bales, superintendent of Vista Unified School District.

Still, at least one superintendent thinks trimming a week from the year might be better than other cost-saving options.

"That would probably be a good trade-off from our vantage point," said Donald Phillips, superintendent at Poway Unified School District. "The state's clearly in a pickle and needs to try to find creative solutions."

Students in Poway lost a week of school when wildfires tore through the area in 2007, and it didn't have a major impact on their learning, Phillips said.

"We were able to weather that quite well," he said.

He said he thinks there'd be even less of an effect if district officials were able to plan in advance for the lost class time.

The proposal would not affect the current school year, which ends in June. It's one of several options Schwarzenegger has suggested to help school districts cope with possible cuts, including eliminating restrictions on some state funding.

"Right now there are so many ideas out there in the hopper for the budget," Phillips said. "The state's clearly in a pickle."

Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.