As the Morgan Hill School District grapples with the prospect of
cutting $2.8 million from next year
’s budget, officials let district parents know how important
attendance is to the financial health of the district.
As the Morgan Hill School District grapples with the prospect of cutting $2.8 million from next year’s budget, officials let district parents know how important attendance is to the financial health of the district.
In a letter to parents dated March that went home with all district students this week, Superintendent Carolyn McKennan said the district’s ADA, or average daily attendance, funding is in a serious situation.
“The Morgan Hill Unified School District’s enrollment is up 129 students over last year,” she said in the letter. “This great news should indicate that our average daily attendance, the means by which the district receives funding, is up.
“In reality, we are experiencing an unprecedented drop in ADA. A review of district attendance records shows a high number of student absences at all school sites, many of them unexcused (vacation, etc.).
The projected amount of lost ADA so far this school year is approximately $600,000. The district receives $26 per student per day from the state, which goes into the district’s general operating fund.
Something many parents don’t realize is that even if their child’s absence is excused, even by a note from a doctor, the state still takes away the $26 for that child that day.
“When we have hundreds of students absent each day throughout the year, the loss in annual revenue is staggering,” McKennan wrote.
A change in state funding allocations means the state no longer funds education based on enrollment.
“That was the way schools used to be funded years ago,” Trustee Del Foster said during Monday night’s School Board meeting. “Districts received money whether kids showed up or not. Four or five years ago, they stopped giving ADA for any absence, excused or othe wise. This is a really critical component for us.”
McKennan stressed to parents in her letter just how critical it is.
“Unless student attendance improves dramatically within the next month the Morgan Hill School district will be forced to make drastic cuts over and above those slated for us at the state level,” she said. “Educating our children is a team effort. Please make sure your child(ren) are in school each and every day so that we can provide them with the quality educational program they deserve.”
The absences, according to Director of Education Technology/Information Systems Arlene Machado, are not concentrated more at one school than another or at one level – elementary, middle school, high school – more than another, despite speculation that high school truancy might account for many of the absences.
“The high school has done an excellent job this year,” Machado said. “Aida Fraser-Hammer (assistant principal at Live Oak High) does a wonderful job with attendance reporting, and the efforts they are making to ensure kids attend class have been successful.”
In a way, Machado added, it would be simpler if the problem was concentrated at one school or grade level, because the district could focus in on the problem.
Something the district is aware of and is working to improve, Machado said, is students who are on independent study not following regulations. Independent study is available for students who will be absent for five consecutive days or more, for health or personal reasons.
“The rules for independent study are pretty strict,” Machado said. “What we are seeing is students on independent study who come back from vacation or whereever but don’t come in the next day to school, either because it was late when they arrive home the night before or because they don’t realize that it matters. If they don’t come in the day they are scheduled to, we lose ADA for the whole period.”
Another problem the district is finding with some independent study students, she said, is students not completing the required work by the day they are scheduled to return or not completing the work in a satisfactory fashion. In either case, the district loses ADA.
“We have lost a fair amount of ADA over not meeting independent study requirements,” Machado said.
The district is “continuing to monitor” the situation, she said. There was a slight increase in attendance in the last month, but the trend needs to continue.
During Monday’s School Board meeting, trustees discussed proposed revisions to a board policy dealing with absences. The policy had not been reviewed since 1984; however the proposed revisions are already standard procedure at the high school, McKennan told trustees.
The revised policy would cover grades 9-12 only.
Under the revised policy, teachers must assign a failing grade to a student with eight or more unexcused absences in a semester. The current policy simply states teachers “may” assign an F to students with excessive unexcuses absences.
The revised policy will come back to the board for approval as a consent item on the March 22 agenda.
