Student attendance critical during week of Oct. 11-14

Alachua County Public School officials are reminding parents that student attendance is particularly critical next week, Oct. 11 through the 14. Local schools are closed Friday, Oct. 15 for the University of Florida Homecoming.

This is the first time during the school year that all public school students in Florida are counted and the numbers sent to Tallahassee. Because school districts are funded based on the number of students actually in school during FTE week (FTE stands for ‘full-time equivalent,’ the official designation for the funding a district receives for a full-time student), absences mean lost dollars. Even if a student is in attendance during the rest of the school year, a district receives no funding for that student if he or she is absent during the October FTE week or during the next FTE week in February. A student must be in attendance at least one day during FTE week to be included in the count.

“Regular attendance is always important to a child’s academic success,” said Superintendent Dan Boyd. “For two weeks in the school year, it’s also critical to the district’s financial health.”

Alachua County Public Schools lost funding for about 60 students during the 2009-10 school year, which represents about $400,000.

“Staff at the district and in the schools will be working very hard to ensure that all students in the district are accounted for,” said Keith Birkett, Assistant Superintendent for Planning, Budgeting and Systems Accountability. “With school budgets so tight, we need every dollar to provide a high quality education for our students.”