Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Absence Notes to Help Schools Raise Money

Notes from Mom on plain paper explaining that Johnny is too sick to come to school are worth more than $10 bills to school officials.

The Sulphur Springs Union School District hopes to earn an additional $60,000 in state funds this year by culling more written excuses from Santa Clarita parents.

California school districts receive money from the state for every student who is in class or has an excused absence. Excused absences are those due to illness. Unexcused absences include truancies or family vacations.

The state gave the school district $15.95 per student per day in average daily attendance funding last year. The money goes into the district’s general fund; there are no restrictions on how it can be spent.

Sulphur Springs lost more than $81,000 in potential revenue because of unexcused absences last year.

“(ADA) is a major source of funds,” said Nick Teeter, assistant superintendent of business services for the district.

Trustees tonight are expected to approve the hiring of three part-time clerks to check why students are absent and hopefully to cut down on missed school days that go unexplained.

“If we don’t get a response back from a parent why their student is absent, we have to mark it an unexcused absence,” Teeter said.

District officials believe that they can verify many of the absences as excused by having clerks work one to two hours each day at Canyon Springs, Mint Canyon and Valley View elementary schools, where the most unexcused absences occurred last year.

“We believe that many of them are just oversights,” Supt. Robert Nolet said.

The three attendance clerks are expected to cost the district $2,000 each.

School officials are also encouraging parents who plan to take their children out of class to arrange for an independent study contract.

By arranging for assignments for the student, the agreement permits a child to keep up with schoolwork they will miss and allows the district to collect ADA funds as if the student was in class.

“In these days and times, every little bit helps,” Nolet said.