Texas public school funding incentivizes student attendance, not just enrollment, and districts are noticing

Educational administrators in Texas are urging public-school students to attend classes – not just for better learning, but for increased revenue.

“I think, when people think about education, they’re not sure how we’re funded,” Dr. Tiffany Spicer, superintendent of Waco Independent School District, told KWTX News 10. “The way it really works is it’s funded by student attendance, average daily attendance.”

As a result, even a small increase in the number of students attending could mean a significant boost to school funding.

For example, the China Spring district received an additional $400,000 in state aid for raising its average daily attendance rate by a tenth of a percentage point. 

The district, which serves approximately 3,000 students from pre-K through high school, saw student attendance increase to 96% last school year from 95%. 

“It’s a very big deal,” said Leslie Smith, the district’s assistant superintendent. “It released more funds to us.” 

Conversely, absentee students can lower revenue by thousands or millions of dollars “depending on the size of the school district, its attendance rate and the state average,” according to the news outlet. 

“A percentage point is $880,000 a year for us,” said Dr. Brent Hawkins, superintendent of the Copperas Cove Independent School District. “If you look at where the state was this past year and you look at where CCISD was, we lost about $880,000.” 

Schools still need to spend the same amount in preparation for serving children even if they fail to show up in classrooms, Hawkins said. 

“We got 8,000 students in Copperas Cove ISD,” he said. “And so we have to allocate and budget and make sure that those 8,000 students have everything they need. … So whether we get funded for it or not on that day, we’re prepared for that student to be there.” 

Incentives just for showing up to classes 

To help encourage turnout, some schools are trying to woo students through prizes and giveaways. 

“We used things such as pie eating contests this year, dunking booths, different types of attendance parties, and drawings for prizes,” Smith said of China Spring’s students achieving perfect attendance. “The students are always eager to participate in those incentives.” 

Meanwhile, Waco ISD has augmented its class offerings to include extracurricular options such as arts, athletics and technical education, according to Spicer. 

“Some students, they love the cores, but then you have other students. They’re just like, ‘I have to take those courses, but I really love football. I really love science. I really love the arts. I really love to sing.’ So kiddos come for those different things. When kids have something that they’re a part of, they stay, they work, they get it done.” 

Since the pandemic, rates of student absenteeism have soared across the nation.