Improved Student Attendance = More Funding for Dublin’s Schools
The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) will be embarking on a campaign to improve student attendance. This campaign will be part of the effort to balance the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 DUSD operating budget.
California provides Dublin with $36/student for each day that they attend school. On average, Dublin’s students attend school about 96% of the time. This results in roughly $1.6M/year of funding that is left on the table due to student absences. An improvement of 1% in the average daily attendance rate would result in approximately $400K/year of additional funding for Dublin’s schools. This means that by limiting student absences to 4 days/year, parents could help the DUSD receive an additional $400K to retain teachers and keep the DUSD’s student-teacher ratio within the optimal range.
Here are some of the suggestions for how parents can partner with Dublin’s schools to help improve student attendance:
- Doctor Appointments - ideally, appointments can be made outside of school hours. If that’s not possible, then the DUSD can still receive funding if the student is brought to school before and/or after the doctor appointment.
- Family Vacations – syncing-up family vacations with school breaks, holidays, and vacations will help to ensure that the DUSD receives full funding for each student. The important thing to note is that the DUSD can receive funding for partial days.
As part of the campaign to improve student attendance, DUSD Board President David Haubert noted that the DUSD could award students with an Attendance With Distinction award for students that have no more than 4 days of absences. This would be the perfect approach to lining up the goals of increased funding and enhanced student education.
Please click here for an example of the communication that school principals have started to send to parents as part of this campaign to improve student attendance. Please check the DUSD’s website for more information about this campaign to improve student attendance.
9:08 AM on February 6th, 2009
I sure wish I knew about that funding rule as a kid, because I would’ve rallied the whole school to stay home for a week and bankrupt the entire school. Yes, that sounds awful to us adults, but come on, when you were a kid, wouldn’t that have been the greatest thing ever?
11:08 AM on February 7th, 2009
I didn’t hear about this until high school when the seniors organized “senior cut day”. That day, we had 400+ students out on one day. Looking back, that was pretty dumb since we cost the school a significant amount of money. The times were different then, though — there were no threats of closing schools, losing jobs, or being redirected to other schools.
Today, however, our children — even in Kindergarten — are made aware of the financial impacts this can cause, and they appear to be more sensitive to all of this. I’m glad messages like this at Green have gone out (although it is disappointing that the newest school has the lowest avgerate daily attendance in the district). Don’t the parents appreciate what they have right in their backyard?
12:10 PM on February 7th, 2009
Conservatively, using your number of 400 who cut, the district lost $14,000!! I appreciate your concerns.
In answer to the first post, who said “wouldn’t that have been the greatest thing ever?”, No, it would have been the dumbest thing and you should be ashamed for trying to foster such a climate.
12:17 PM on February 7th, 2009
Wow! This is great info John. We all need to do what we can to help attendance.
I like the idea of an award for fewer absences. While perfect attendance awards are common to have they are rarely awarded because it is hard to have. If there is an incentive to reach a certain level (four seems reasonable) then I am sure some students would increase attendance.
12:13 PM on February 18th, 2009
So, if we really want to improve the schools funding, lets not send kids home early from school each week. Lets stop taking frivolous holidays, like presidents day off and instead keep the kids in school and collect $36.00 more per student. Lets do the math, 9 holidays 99% of parents don’t get off (Banks or State employees ONLY). multiplied by 5,000 students, multiplied by $36.00 = $1,620,000.00 in funding I think we have more than 5000 students, and I believe we pay our teachers on a Annual Salary, (albiet underpaid). Include this with all the Half Days, and Teacher in Session BS days, and your left with a nice chunk of change. Most likely a few million.
Look, not to put the burden on the teachers here, but I work 50 – 60 hours a week, I commute to work every day and if I can’t get my work done, I don’t get to take a day off. If my TEAM at work cannot accomplish its tasks in timely manner we come in on the Weekend. And if we just can’t cut we lose our job. (Hence the incentive to work hard during the week). All this and I don’t receive lifetime benefits or a pension. So. Lets stop with the all the WASTE in Government and Education. Lets make use of what we have and leverage what we can.
My child should go to School, 5 days a week, My child should only be out of school on holidays that conform the average parents holidays schedule, not the BANK or Government Holiday Schedual. I mean who do these people think they work for? Shouldn’t the government work more than we do, not less? Why do the backs of Americans provide a nice holiday package for the people that get such a good deal already.
10:32 PM on February 18th, 2009
A response to the person above: have you ever been a teacher? Many of us end up working hours into the evening every single night. I work most Sundays as well, grading papers and planning lessons.
I’m not complaining, I absolutely love my job. But, based on the hours I work (at the school and at home), I could be making A LOT more money in a different field.
I think the extra vacation days here and there are more than fair.
11:35 AM on February 19th, 2009
I agree with “Anonymous on February 18, 2009 9:32 PM”. Why is it that when schools have to make cuts, we always look to teachers and front-line staff to shoulder most of the sacrifices? Teachers and front-line staff have already conceded more than their fair share, while I cannot say the same for the administrators.
Kate S.