Children in Mississippi are required by law to attend school.

School attendance is a serious subject among educators, not only because of the importance of children being present for all their lessons, but also because, like a handful of other states, Mississippi bases part of its public school funding on school districts’ Average Daily Attendance (ADA).

Besides Mississippi, California, Kentucky, Idaho, Illinois, Missouri and Texas also base funding on average daily attendance (ADA).

The idea behind the principle is that ADA funding is designed to provide an incentive to get students to attend school on a regular basis.

However, when children do not attend school, which can be for reasons such as a bad flu season or inclement weather, a school district can lose valuable funding for reasons that are out of their control.

School districts do not want sick children to come to school just to assure higher state funding levels. It’s important for parents to be considerate of their children’s health needs and to keep their children home when they are sick, especially with influenza. But school absences that can be avoided, should be, school officials say.

The Amory School District has implemented several strategies to try to boost ADA levels. According to Amory Superintendent of Education Dr. Gearl Loden, thus far the goal to increase ADA levels seems to be working for the district even though there were a number of sick children who missed school at the beginning of the school year.

The Amory district as a whole has an attendance rate that is down about 1 percent from last year, but Loden said this is pretty good considering the early illnesses that have been circulating among the children.

A 1 percent drop in ADA equates to about a $100,000 loss in state funding for the district which has about 1,900 students. In terms of lost state funding, it costs roughly $26 per day per student when a child does not attend school. Loden said that is significant funding when you look at the district as a whole and about how much can be done with an extra $90,000 or $100,000.

ADA at each school thus far this year has run as follows: 96.34 percent at West Amory Elementary, 96.41 percent at East Amory Elementary, 96.5 percent at Amory Middle, and 95.3 at Amory High.

The Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) was set up by the state to provide the amount of money to districts that is needed to adequately educate the students. The formula is a complex one that was approved by the state legislature but which has only been fully funded a few times since implementation because of various shortfalls in state revenue. This year alone, the MAEP funding was cut 5 percent by the governor because of a shortage in funds, with the possibility of another cut to it still under consideration. “MAEP is designed for just what you need to operate a school,” Loden said. “We’re going to continue to have schools and protect our classrooms first.”

Each school has incentives in place to see that the children are in school as many days as possible. Principals have set rewards such as a movie and popcorn or an ice cream party or other incentives for students who have perfect attendance for the month or for six weeks.

Loden said the district doesn’t get state money based on teachers attending school every day, but it’s also very important for the teachers to limit absenteeism. As a district, its teacher attendance rate runs about 95 to 97 percent. Not only does it cost the district in lost educational time when teachers are out, but the district has to hire a substitute teacher for $60 per day or $100 per day for long-term subs.

Teachers being on their job most days also presents itself as a good role model for students who will some day be in the job market themselves.

Loden said that it’s understandable when a teacher has to miss work because they are a parent and maybe their entire family gets sick. Or he said there are times when a staff member is battling cancer or is out on a maternity leave that causes them to be absent. “Life happens,” Loden said. “We understand that. But we obviously want them to be in school if they can be.”

The district has different incentives in place to reward teachers who do not miss school, too. Some principals are allowing perfect attending staff to leave early for a few days or to come in slightly later as a reward.

In recent years, the Quality Education Foundation also has rewarded school personnel with cash for perfect attendance.

If parents are planning to have their kids out of school for a planned, educational trip such as to Washington, D.C. or a visit to a college campus, they can get pre-approval for the absence and it will not penalize the district in terms of ADA numbers. “It can be coded into the system and count as attendance,” Loden said.

The bottom line is that schools don’t want sick kids showing up, but they also don’t want kids staying home who are capable of coming to school to be educated and counted.