County wants to boost school budgets by raising attendance
John Slater
Los Angeles County Office of Education focuses attention on truancy.
Frequent absences from school undermines student education - and hurts school district coffers. County officials are drew attention to the problem Tuesday by lauding school districts that are turning around high truancy rates.
Baldwin Park Unified, in the San Gabriel Valley, is one success story. In the last few years the district has raised attendance about 10 percent through robo-calls to alert parents when their child has missed school and by assigning police officers to all schools to meet with parents whose kids weren’t showing up.
The district's attendance rate was an impressive 96 percent last year. The goal this year is 97 percent this year.
"If we raised our percentage up to 97.5 percent, the district would get about additional $1 million from the state of California to support programs and teachers," said Assistant Superintendent Christine Dennis.
That’s because the state pays schools per student, per day of instruction. Unless a child is sick or the absence is otherwise excused, the state won’t pay for missed school
That’s because the state pays schools per student, per day of instruction. Unless a child is sick or the absence is otherwise excused, the state won’t pay for missed school
