AUGUSTA – State lawmakers will hold a hearing Monday on a bill that would allow schools to operate on a four-day week.

The Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee will hear testimony on a bill sponsored by Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, that would authorize school systems to adopt alternative calendars as long as equivalent instruction is provided.

Education experts have suggested that shortening the school week could save money – busing, heating and meal costs – but may sacrifice quality and pose scheduling problems for extracurricular activities.

The idea was drafted last fall when record-high energy prices were dominating school budgets, Millett said. Prices have fallen, but now the state’s dismal budget prospects mean less funding for K-12 education, so Millett says the plan still has legs.

“It’s a tool to address energy and budgetary constraints,” Millett said. “It is in no way intended to inhibit students from learning.”

Mark Eastman, superintendent of the Oxford Hills school district, asked Millett to sponsor the bill after unsuccessfully approaching Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.

“I had contacted the commissioner and she said that although the idea might have merit, she didn’t have the authority to grant pilot projects with alternative calendars,” Eastman said.

David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Department of Education, said the commissioner would be at the hearing Monday, but her testimony would be neither for nor against the legislation.

“Obviously, we are interested in working with districts to find ways that they can find savings that don’t harm the educational program,” he said. “It needs to be a community conversation as well as an education conversation.”

Possible disadvantages of a four-day school week would include higher day-care costs for parents, the loss of one day’s nutrition for students who receive free or reduced breakfast and lunch and scheduling difficulties for students participating in career and technical education centers, Connerty-Marin said.

“Nothing we’ve researched says it’s a disaster; nothing we’ve researched says it’s the next best thing since sliced bread; the jury is out,” he said.

Seventeen states already allow some sort of modified school calendar, but most of the states with four-day options have very few schools taking advantage of it, Connerty-Marin said.

Tom Morrill, superintendent of the Auburn School Department, said he began looking at the possible savings associated with a four-day school week during the fall.

“We did run some numbers to see what the savings would be by going to a four-day week,” he said. “There were savings, but it really wasn’t as outstanding or dramatic as I had anticipated.”