Truancy has reached crisis levels

Gadflies — people obsessed with righting some perceived wrong and pester politicians and journalists to take up their causes — are a constant feature of politics.

One of the state’s more persistent gadflies these days is Thomas Carter, an accountant in Sherman Oaks who sends out almost daily barrages of emails about truancy in public schools, demanding that authorities recognize and address what he regards as a crisis.

“From what school will come the next ignored student to commit crimes, including a mass gun shooting, or be an ignored child abused at a school or in a home, or to become homeless, if a dropout?” is a typical heading on one of Carter’s lengthy emails.

Carter, in an interview, said he became concerned about the issue more than 30 years ago when, as a single parent, he discovered that his son had been missing school and he was not informed of the absences.

“Since then, I’ve been asking the questions,” Carter said. His complaints include sections of the education code that permit, but do not require, chronic truancy to be reported to law enforce- ment authorities, who could intervene but rarely do.

Carter may be a gadfly whose emails are automatically diverted into the junk file of many recipients, but he has a point about truancy. Surprisingly large numbers of the state’s almost 6 million public school students often don’t show up in class.

Two new reports from the Public Policy Institute of California frame the issue.

“Thirty percent of California public school students were chronically absent from school in 2021-22 — a near tripling of the percentage in 2018-19,” PPIC policy director Laura Hill and research associate Emmanuel Prunty wrote in the first report.

“Although we do not know if this stark increase in chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 10% of the school year or at least 18 days, will continue, the data from last year raises concerns about the pace of students’ learning recovery after the educational setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The PPIC added that “this measure of chronic absenteeism — which includes both excused and unexcused absences — actually underestimates the true scope of missed school because it does not include students who missed fewer than 18 days and does not capture exactly how much instruction students missed (some students may have missed many more than 18 days).”

The second report, merging data about truancy with academic test results, declares, “We find that schools with greater increases in chronic absenteeism saw steeper drops in proficiency rates on the Smarter Balanced (SBAC) English and math tests, when comparing pre-pandemic levels (2018-19) to 2021-22.”

Some of the truancy surge can be attributed to the aftereffects of schools being shuttered during the pandemic — but not all, because the problem isn’t a new one. A 2013 report by the state Department of Justice tabbed chronic truancy at about 20% and declared, “California is facing an attendance crisis, with dire consequences for our economy, our safety, and our children.”

So, one might wonder, why is this evident crisis not given as much attention as it warrants?

State school finance is based largely on attendance and when students are chronically absent, it should have negative financial consequences. However, during the pandemic, the state loosened up on the attendancebased formulas, including allowing reimbursable attendance to be calculated over several years rather than year-by-year, so the immediate financial impacts are muted.

Moreover, there’s been a push by school officials, particularly those with declining numbers of students, to change financial aid from using attendance to enrollment, which would allow them to get money even for enrolled students who are chronically absent. Such a change would indirectly encourage authorities to ignore chronic truancy.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

Readers’ Choice

Thank you for your Readers’ Choice 2023 results. I wish to make one amplification and add one missing Best award.

On almost the last page, La Creme de la Creme was listed under the Gift Shop category. This is hands-down the best retail store in Davis. The shop is so inviting and inside are delightful items for your home. And the owner is onsite to greet you by first name and artfully wrap your purchase. No other establishment comes close.

The missing Best award is PDQ downtown on F Street. They perform notary and fingerprinting services but their shipping services (USPS, UPS & FEDEX) are truly what makes them outstanding. PDQ is a family operated business and they care about you. They make sure you shipping cost is the lowest available, even cutting up your cardboard box to make it smaller and cheaper. We’re lucky to have these two businesses in Davis.

Pat Fitzsimmons Davis

Wright for Davis

I have known Francesca (Cesca)

Speak out

President

Wright for 16 years, having sung together in Davis Threshold Singers, as well as serving on the Board of Directors of Threshold Choir International.

I have been so inspired by the breadth of Wright’s involvement in the community, the county and with state organizations through her social justice and professional work.

Cesca has a unique style of engaging folks with whom she works and interacts. Her skills range from being a facilitator with the amazing ability to include everyone in the room with respect, to her gentle demeanor when dealing with a wide variety of viewpoints. Her desire to listen and learn from all our neighbors, to advocate for city infrastructure improvements, and to address climate change issues creatively will be an asset to all of us when she is on City Council.

Francesca Wright is a doer, an activist, an innovator, and a committed participant extraordinaire in our town. Our Davis City Council and our entire community would benefit greatly from having Francesca Wright on city council.

Karen Friis Davis

Neville for City Council

I got to know Donna Neville when we both served on the city of Davis Finance

The Hon. Joe Biden, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; 202-456-1111 (comments), 202-456-1414 (switchboard); email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

U.S. Senate

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3841; email: https://www. feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/ e-mail-me

Sen. Alex Padilla, 112 Hart Senate Office and Budget Commission. I will never forget the day Donna was sworn in as her late father was there and he was beaming with pride for his daughter as he, too, has served on a city commission — The Senior Citizen Commission. Service is in her blood and indeed Donna spent her career as an attorney in public service for the State of California.

During our time together on FBC I became more and more impressed with Donna’s ability to synthesize data to get to the heart of an issue. We also became friends, and I enjoy our walks along with Ella, her blonde Golden Retriever, despite Ella’s need for lots of petting and shedding all over me.

To know Donna, as I do, is to recognize that she is someone that will always do her homework, that she is someone that listens extremely, that she is someone who has a vast well of experience in public policy to draw upon, and you also know that she is someone that will move decisively once she has the facts.

When I moved on from FBC to the Planning Commission, I was pleased to be able to turn the duties of chair over to Donna. She is a leader I trusted, and for the citizens of District she is a leader you will be honored to have represent you.

Michelle Weiss Davis

Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202224-3553; email: https://www.padilla. senate.gov/contact/contact-form/

House of Representatives

Rep. Mike Thompson, 268 Cannon Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202225-3311. District office: 622 Main Street, Suite 106, Woodland, CA 95695; 530-753-5301; email: https:// https:// mikethompsonforms.house.gov/contact/

Governor Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-4452841; email: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/ gov40mail/