Car In Rental - Parents Charged $36 Per Day When Children Miss School for Play

By Erin Peterson

The state does not pay the daily allotment, if students are not present. That is how much they estimate the district loses based on a state formula that distributes school funding according to daily attendance. The school has begun billing parents $36.13 per day that students miss school. Are fed up with parents taking their children out of school for family ski trips or vacations to Disneyland in the middle of the school year, cA, school officials in Scotts Valley.

000 during the 2005-2006 school year, cost the district $223, " or days missed for reasons other than illness, "elective absences, according to the Scott Valley school administrators. But over the year the missed earnings add up and impact the bottom line of the school budget, it may not sound like a large sum of money.

The bills are simply a request for reimbursement but parents are not required to pay or penalized if they do not. Not technically. Does the school district have the authority to require parents to pay for these elective absences?

Parents do not see a reason to pay more. Is allocated to education, nearly half of the annual state budget, approximately $66 billion dollars per year, in California. Calling the idea offensive, many parents are refusing to even accept the bills, on the other hand. Perhaps to ease their guilty consciences caused by taking their kids away from learning for a private family holiday, in the affluent community of Scott Valley many parents are sending in the money, however.

" Please Pay, the school sent these parents a letter in January entitled "If You Play. 000 in 2000, most of the parents in the area are employed in high-tech industries or management positions and had a median household income of $72. 800 students, the Scott Valley school district has an attendance of 2.

" There are consequences for the student and the district, when your child misses school. We would encourage you to reconsider, if so. Are you taking the kids to Disneyland midweek to avoid the crowds? Is the beach beckoning? "Are the ski slopes calling, the letter posed these questions to parents?

000 within the first two weeks after parents received the letter, school district representative Brenda Spalding reports that the district received $2.

Wilson considered the payment a tax-deductible donation and a fair request from the school district. Wilson gladly paid more than the requested amount because the family was able to save so much money on the vacation due to their flexible schedule. Took his two children out of school for a week for a trip to Hawaii, stan Wilson, one Scott Valley parent.

" "We?ve got to have a better way to pay for our schools, " Handy also added. I?m not going to be told to pay when I have my kids out. It?s a public school. "I tossed it, handy states. One for each of her children, scott Valley school district parent Helene Handy received three bills and letters explaining the charge, however.

But also to discourage parents to take their children out of school for extra holidays, school officials claim that the idea behind the payment is not only to help them reclaim the money lost due to absence.

" Maybe you can afford a donation, if you can afford to go to Disneyland or go on a ski trip. We need every penny we can keep. It's a shame. "Our schools are duct-taped together and they're in portables. Feels that the request for reimbursement is fair, a Scott Valley PTA member, charlotte Multer.