One has heard it before: time is money, especially when it comes to adding time for instruction to the school day. When budgets are tight and relief is nowhere in sight, how can schools afford to implement a reform as costly as adding instructional time? It's a daunting task, yet current federal educational priorities tied to federal funding encourage schools and districts to do just that. Schools that exercise the turnaround or transformation model specified under the (School Improvement Grant) SIG program are required to redesign the school day to allow for increased time for learning and teacher collaboration. Most SIG schools have chosen one of those two models and have made the large investment in staff salaries that is needed to extend school time. A study of one state's SIGs schools, found that "no school appeared to have a strategy for paying the extra staff, extended days, and other expenditures once the SIG funds run out in three years." Another study found an additional problem involved in increasing learning time is that it affords no quick wins. Given those drawbacks, many school and district leaders are looking for more cost-neutral and sustainable methods for increasing instructional time. (Contains 2 figures.)