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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Parents in Pueblo School District 70 were reacting Wednesday to a decision by the board of education to change the district's school work week from five days to four.

D-70's board voted unanimously in favor of the proposal Tuesday night.

They said the four-day school week comes in response to budget cuts from the state and added those cuts are forcing them to eliminate about $6 million from their budget.

In total, the district's superintendent estimated they will save around $1 million by going to a four-day week.

District 70's teacher's union supported the change; representatives said it should keep them from having to go through furlough days or a pay freeze.

D-70 officials said they did not tread lightly on the matter, but rather took it very seriously, doing a lot of research on the proposal.

"We have talked to others. There are 60 school district in the state that are on a four-day week and we will be the biggest, but we have talked with them and asked them if they have seen a change in student achievement and they said they have seen no difference," Superintendent Dan Lere said.

Lere said teacher's salaries will not be reduced because they will work the same amount of hours as the remaining four school days will be extended by 90 minutes.

If parents are concerned about what they are going to do with their child on Fridays, he said there will be options.

"We have made contacts with a lot of agencies in the area -- the Boys and Girls Clubs, the YMCA, the Metro recenters -- and we have asked them if they would like to bring their programs into our schools on Fridays, and we have got a great response from them," Lere said.

As for where the savings will come from, Lere said the majority of the money will be taken out of the district's transportation department as they will not be running buses for a fifth day.

He said they will also save by not having to pay substitutes as often. As for parents, some are happy about the change while others remain skeptical.

"I am for it because I would rather save jobs and not close schools, it is easier to fix a four-day school week than re-open a school, so maybe we can go back to five days when things go back up," parent Joe Lynch said.

"My kids are facing a 12- to 14-hour school day, and when you are talking young children riding the buses for two hours, being in a 10-hour school day, fatigue has got to be a factor on performance," parent Mark McPherson said.

The four-day week will officially begin at the start of the next school year.

Lere said after two or three years on the new schedule, the district will re-evaluate its financial situation and decide if they should go back to a five-day school week.