Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Many of my colleagues at work have children who attend school in Lancaster and Northumberland counties. These counties had their last day of school on May 25. Their kids get out of school three weeks earlier than Mathews students! How on earth do they do that, you may wonder. Well, my friends tell me the school systems simply added a fraction of an hour to their school day.

I got to thinking how much money could be saved by cutting the school year by three weeks. I would think the savings in bus operations alone would be worth the change. For example, if each bus travels approximately 20 miles each day and gets 10 miles per gallon of fuel and the fuel is $4 per gallon, then $8 per bus per day could be saved. Ten buses would save $80 per day. Multiplying that by14 days gives you a total of $1,120. Of course, you have to add in maintenance costs and the salary of the drivers. If 10 bus drivers make $35 per day, that comes to $4,900 in 14 days, bringing the ...