Sam Liccardo says kids are never too young to get on that 9-to-5 grind. The downtown San Jose councilmember and 2014 mayoral candidate created a petition last week to pad San Jose school days an hour or few longer to match adult work schedules.

The average school day is 6.7 hours, according to the U.S. Dept. of Education, so it’s not much of a stretch time-wise to bump it up to an 8-hour day. But that extra 300 or so hours a year of instruction in each of the city’s 19 school districts would require a boatload of grant money or some other type of funding to make it work.

“Although mayors usually don’t have much to do with schools, nothing can make our city stronger than ensuring that our public schools give every child the opportunity to achieve,” Liccardo argues.

Eleven districts in five other states have already launched initiatives to extend the school day, using a mix of federal, state and district money.

Liccardo suggests that longer school days will attract younger, educated “gamer”-type parents who are looking to settle in neighborhoods with good schools. San Jose could become an enclave for stressed-out parents trying to “juggle afternoon work and family responsibilities,” he adds.

Like a boss, Liccardo packages the idea as a way to improve education results and promote public safety. After all, kids can’t tag your house if they’re in an after-school learning lab.