Schools should go to a four day school week. Research shows that it is time on task, not seat time that leads to higher academic achievment. Every study done on a four day school week shows thatit does not hurt academic achievement. It will however save a lot of money.

Closing State buildings on Fridays will probably save the State money in heating and cooling costs, and will probably reduce emissions to the atmosphere from building operations. But closing these buildings will make life more difficult for people doing business with the State. It will make life difficult for many State employees whose lives may not conform to four 10-hour work days. It will NOT make commuting easier or less expensive for many State employees.

Being a former state employee, state operations must function in a manner that most efficiently uses state resources and serves the public. The top concern is not to make life easier for state employees "whose lives may not conform to four 10-hour work days," as Elrond states in his message. Utah state employees are generally very good at what they do and provide good service, and I think they will adapt to the new schedule fairly quickly and address their personal matters such as child care, commuting, second jobs, etc.

I think that this is going to be good and bad. Good because the buildings will now be open later so that people can stop by after work instead of during their work day, but bad because us state employees generally work seven day weeks as it is during our field seasons. Nothing will change by saying we have friday off except in winter when our schedules slow down.

I agree that schools should do this.

20% cut in bussing costs would make it worthwhile by itself.

The gov's idea seems good on the surface. Hope it works.

I’m skeptical about this proposal, because I don’t understand the governor’s true motive for it. Yes, I know what he SAID about it, but all indications are that Huntsman makes his stances based not on what is right or wise, but instead on what he thinks will make him look good at the moment.

State employees who perform field inspections or other necessary duties should have the option of working on Fridays to serve their customers and to reduce their work hours Monday through Thursday if a 10-hr day is a burden (i.e. sleep/medical issues, child care, second jobs, or just the fact that they live in Utah so that they can enjoy the great outdoors after 5:00 p.m.!!! etc.)

I am a former school teacher. The best class I ever had in public education was 2nd grade in Monrovia, California when the 2nd grade class I had just went 8 a.m. to 12 noon each day, four hours so we really made it count. We were afraid they might get behind, so we were well-prepared (all afternoon to do so) and hit the basics hard every day & then they went home to play. In early April all but 2 had finished the entire curriculum for the year. We overshot the mark. Issue: time in school is not what matters, so let's save time and money and give everyone one more day off per week. 20% savings on transportation, utilities, lots of things. A step in the right direction for the State employees and for the students and families too. Of course there may be negatives, and we can't do business with government on Friday, and the parents don't have daycare on Fridays, but we need to economize somewhere. Jackie de Gaston