Policy-Induced School Calendar Changes and Teacher Moonlighting

Secondary employment (SE) is an important for many workers and several motives impact engagement. This research analyzes a novel short-lived crisis when California public schools switched between nine-month and year-round calendars in response to state policy inhibiting school construction. The crisis shifted primary employment vacation schedules of full-time teachers for 4–6 years, potentially altering compositions of SE opportunities. Policy analysis is conducted, and the empirical analysis suggests teachers increase SE engagement by 13.8% during years their schools are on year-round calendars. The increase is attributable to increases in school-based SE engagement in schools using multi-track year-round calendars, and no changes in non-school-based SE engagement are observed. An event study suggests the impact on SE engagement only occurs when teachers are required to be on year-round calendars. Males and mid-career teachers' SE engagement appear most responsive. The relative importance of workers' SE motives and policy impact are discussed.