FRANKLIN—School hours in the Franklin City Public Schools division will begin a few minutes earlier and end a few minutes later this year.

Instructional hours for all three schools will be seven hours and five minutes for the 2010-2011 school year, an increase of 15 minutes from last year, when instructional hours totaled six hours and 50 minutes.

Dr. Michelle Belle, the superintendent for the division, said the change was made to add 10 minutes to instructional time.

Classes at both J.P. King Middle School and Franklin High School will now begin at 7:40 a.m. and end at 2:45 p.m., which differ slightly from the previous start time of 7:45 a.m. and ending time of 2:35 p.m.

Meanwhile, S.P. Morton Elementary School will now begin at 8:15 a.m., up from the previous time of 8:20 a.m. Classes will end at the school at 3:20 p.m. instead of 3:10 p.m.

“I think that with our standards and our curriculum, it is time well spent,” S.P. Morton Elementary School principal Don Spengeman said Friday. “We put that extra time into instruction; it’s not to pad lunch or to pad recess. I think it’s time well spent.”

The school board approved the time changes at its meeting on Aug. 19.