HOUSTON — School districts took extra precautions as Imelda rolled through the area.
On Wednesday, several school districts and colleges made changes to their schedules or canceled classes altogether.
Whether your district closed, some parents and students decided to take matters in their own hands and stay home.
So that has some of KHOU 11 viewers like Melanie wondering, “Do Texas schools receive significant funding for students’ daily attendance?”
To answer this question, we turned to the Texas Association of School Boards.
Will Holleman, a government analyst for TASB, said attendance is a big part of school funding. He said how much each school district gets is made up of complicated formulas created by the Texas legislature and is implemented by the Texas Education Agency.
Holleman said each student can generate $6,160 for a school district. He said that amount can grow if a student requires extra resources.
However, Average Daily Attendance is the base for all school funding.
Under the law, each student has to sit through 75,600 minutes of instruction, about 180 days, every school year.
For example, TASB stated if a student misses nine days in the school year, their district loses 5 percent of the funding a student with perfect attendance would generate.
We can verify schools receive significant funding for a student’s daily attendance. It means schools lose money whenever a student is absent.