By Andrea Calcagno
October 22, 2009
YREKA, Ore. - The hundreds of students in Southern Oregon and Northern California that are missing school days is creating problems for many school districts.
In Oregon, students can miss 10 consecutive days of school before being dropped from enrollment, which discontinues funding from the state. However, in California, state funding stops any day a student is not in school. Siskiyou County School District officials say the district loses $30 for every day a student is absent.
"They have to be there or the school doesn't get any funding for that student," Siskiyou Co. Superintendent Kermith Walters said.
Walters says the law can hurt smaller districts the most.
"It can impact a district quite severely to have a lot of kids out, especially our little districts. It doesn't take very many kids to get to 10 percent. If you only have 50 kids, and five kids are out in one day, it could be one family, and you're out your 10 percent," Walters said.
Districts can apply for a waiver from the State Board of Education to gain back funding from student sick days if around 10 percent of students are absent.
"It takes a letter from our public health official to declare some type of an epidemic," Walters said.
Absences due to sickness in schools are also recorded at the Siskiyou County Health Department so numbers can be easily tracked when applying for funding waivers.
Oregon School Districts experience less of a financial impact.
"I have heard of some kids being gone for 10 days. And the question has come up, 'do we have to drop them from the rolls?' And the answer is, 'yes we do have to, because it is state law'," said Rich Miles, Medford Director of Elementary Education.
Every year Oregon schools are each given a state report card that includes a grade for attendance.
"This year we don't know what that's going to look like because we do have a much higher absence rate than usual because of illness," Miles said.
Walters says they will not apply for a waiver from the state until after flu season to get the highest possible reimbursement.
