Many families do not prioritize attendance because they may not appreciate the high marginal value of every school day, the dangers elementary school truancy and absenteeism create for their child’s long term success and opportunities, and that school attendance is legally required. However, elementary school provides a brief window in which to teach children the fundamental skills they will need to lead productive and happy lives. It is where we diagnose a child for vision, hearing or learning impairments. Above all, it is where we build a foundation for academic success and set children on a path to good health and economic security.
Late last month, California’s Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris released a new report, “In School and On Track, The Attorney General’s 2013 Report on California’s Elementary School Truancy and Absenteeism Crisis.” The Attorney General announced that this is only the first of several reports. Because the link between elementary school truancy rates can be so closely correlated with high school dropout rates and crime rates, California’s Attorney General’s Office will produce annual reports tracking truancy and chronic absence in elementary schools across the state. Many of the statistics of the Report are simply jaw-dropping. For example, did you know that high school dropouts cost California $46 billion each year? A summary of the report’s key findings is below:
School Budget Impact of Truancy
- School districts lose $1.4 billion per year based on student absences because school funding is based on student attendance rates.
- San Diego County Schools lost almost $95 million in the 2010-2011 school year due to absenteeism. That equates to $211.20 per student that was lost over the course of the year.
Dangers Truancy Creates for Your Child
- Truancy (being absent or tardy by more than 30 minutes without a valid excuse on 3 occasions in a school year), especially among elementary school students has long-term negative effects.
- Students who miss school at an early age will fall behind their classmates. Students who miss a lot of school in the early years are likely to become disengaged from their studies and struggle academically, develop behavior problems and, in later years, to drop out of school entirely.
- First grade students with 9 or more absences are two times more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who attend school regularly.
- For low-income elementary students who have already missed 5 days of school, each additional school day missed decreased the student’s chance of graduating by 7%.
- High School dropouts can be predicted with 66% accuracy based on attendance data in the third grade.
- According to one study comparing the scores of more than 600 kindergarten students on a school readiness exam and a 3rd grade reading test, students who arrived at school academically ready to learn but then missed 10% of their kindergarten and first grade years, scored an average of 60 points below similar students with good attendance on 3rd grade reading tests. In math, the gap was nearly 100 points on tests with 400 points possible.
- Increasing graduation rates in California by 10% would result in 50,000 additional graduates annually, 500 murders prevented each year, and 20,000 aggravated assaults prevented each year.
Truancy is Against the Law
- Truancy is against the law. California’s Compulsory Education Law requires every child from the age of 6 to 18 to be in school – on time, every day.
- Because of the long-term negative effects of elementary school truancy, there is currently a statewide push for prosecutors to accept referrals for truancy prosecutions of parents when an elementary school child is involved.
About the Author: Christina Riehl is a Senior Staff Attorney in CAI’s San Diego office. She conducts litigation activities; performs research and analysis regarding CAI’s legislative and regulatory policy advocacy; assists in the research and drafting of CAI special reports; and serves as an Educational Representative under appointment by the San Diego Juvenile Court. Before joining CAI, Riehl worked as staff attorney with the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles, where she represented minor clients in dependency court proceedings. Prior to that, she interned with the Honorable Susan Huguenor, formerly the presiding judge in San Diego Juvenile Court. Riehl is a graduate of the USD School of Law, where she participated in the CAI academic program.