The annual California truancy report in has been released by Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office. Here’s a link. https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2015.
It focuses on truancy at the elementary school level — students who had three or more unexcused absences — the societal impact of truancy and what it costs counties in state education funds.
The local numbers are:
Sonoma County: had a 17.70 percent truancy rate among elementary school students in the 2013-2014 school year, up from 14.94 the year before. That represented a loss in state funding of $11.5 million, the report said.
Mendocino County: had a 23.10 percent truancy rate in the 2012-20143 year, up dramatically from 14.37 percent the year before. (I should probably look into that). That represented a loss in state funding of $3.7 million in per pupil funds.
Lake County: went down, but only fractionally and from 32.8 percent in the 2012-2013 year to 31.8 percent in 2013-2014. That represented a loss of $3.3 million in state funding, the report said.
Statewide, the numbers were: the 2013-2014 truancy rate among elementary school stuednts was 23.2 percent, up from 21.32 percent the year before.
There’s a lot more in the report about the downstream/longterm effects of truancy and absenteeism, but perhaps this can start the conversation.