Schools

'Attendance Crisis' in California Schools, Berkeley Rate Twice State Average

A new state report finds alarmingly high rates of truancy in California schools. Truancy in the Berkeley school district is double the state average. The accompanying chart shows which Berkeley schools have the highest rates.

Nearly one out of four elementary school students in Alameda County was truant in the 2011-12 school year, according to a report from the state Attorney General’s office

During the same period, every elementary school in the Berkeley Unified School District recorded a truancy rate above 33 percent. The district’s total truancy rate was 60.2 percent.

Claiming that the state’s public schools are in the midst of an attendance crisis, the report calls for fighting chronic truancy in the elementary years as a means of preventing students from dropping out of high school. The report cites figures showing that high school dropouts cost the state $46.4 billion a year in prison costs, lost productivity and unrealized taxable income.

Find out what's happening in Berkeleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Truancy is defined as being absent or tardy by more than 30 minutes without a valid excuse three times in a school year.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris has been active in efforts to reduce truancy for years. When she was the district attorney in San Francisco, she launched a controversial program to prosecute the parents of chronically truant kids.  

Find out what's happening in Berkeleywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

[Poll: Do you think parents should face fines or jail when their kids are chronically truant?]

While the new report allows that truancy is illegal, it recommends aggressive counseling and outreach on the part of school districts and other local agencies before turning to the courts.

The report’s chief recommendation is to use more sophisticated tracking systems that help school districts identify individual truant students.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here