A couple of school districts in California have grown tired of losing money because parents choose to take their children out of school to go on vacation. Their solution? They're sending home a bill.
Scotts Valley district officials have begun billing parents $36.13 per day of elective (non-illness-related) absence--that's the amount of state funding that the district loses under California's attendance-based program. In 2005-2006 the district lost almost a quarter of a million dollars in funding because of absenteeism, funding that even more affluent districts like Scotts Valley can ill afford. A similar program has been in effect for a few years in the San Mateo/Foster City school district, located on the San Francisco peninsula.
Some parents have cheerfully paid the bill, collection of which the district is not currently enforcing. Other parents have just thrown it away. But with the majority of California public school systems hanging by a financial thread, this might not be the time to feel a sense of entitlement toward taking a ski trip whenever the mood strikes. Wait till spring break, or get out your checkbook.
