by Stella Fang | Special to the Courier

As a college student who grew up attending local public middle and high schools, I greatly valued the opportunity I had to immerse myself in an engaging learning environment that encouraged me to pursue my intellectual interests. I will always be grateful for the dedication my teachers showed me and will always have a soft spot for the public education system and what it represents.

California’s recently passed Senate Bill 98 (“Education finance: local control funding formula: enrollment-based funding report”) is a necessary step toward providing more equitable funding in our education systems. I’m not sure how many parents are aware of the power of this bill and what the results of the report mean for the future of equitable funding, thus I wanted to share my thoughts on the policy and why it is important.

The bill focuses specifically on changing the funding mechanism from its current formula which weighs average daily attendance, to one that instead weighs average enrollment. This change is vital, as California schools have been afflicted with chronic absenteeism (defined as missing 10% or more days of school in an academic year), with numbers especially concentrated in low-income, predominantly Pacific Islander, Black, and Hispanic communities. Thus, districts’ budgets with the highest need but also the highest chronic absenteeism rates are punished by the current funding formula.

Education has been proven time and time again to be a powerful tool for social mobility. Higher education is associated with increased learning potential, better health outcomes, and lower incarceration rates. A landmark 2011 study by The National Bureau of Economic Research also found students randomly assigned to higher-quality classrooms in kindergarten would earn $320,000 more than their peers over their lifetimes. Aside from equipping students with practical knowledge, school also teaches students essential values such as civic engagement (in the form of voter participation), teamwork, and grit — all of which are increasingly necessary traits for achieving social mobility.

However, as research has proven, funding disparities in public education varies, greatly impacting quality of education. California’s SB 98 recognizes this issue. It requires the state legislative analyst’s office to compile a report examining what alternative funding methods will have on school districts’ budget allocations. Though a step in the right direction in terms of increasing education funding, we cannot stop there, and must take more measures if we as a state would like our public education to have truly equitable funding.

Some naysayers may argue, why give more funding to districts where students’ aren’t even bothering to show up? Proponents of keeping the current formula, such as education writer Frederick Hess, argue that increasing funding for schools with high levels of chronic absenteeism is a laughable idea. Hess’ sentiments highlight the primary argument against adopting an enrollment-based system, which centers on the idea that education funding is a reward and absenteeism is form of bad behavior, thus districts with high levels of chronic absenteeism should not be rewarded for not stopping bad behavior. This view of chronic absenteeism is not only incredibly simplistic, but it also ignores the fact that “punishing” districts with high levels of absenteeism by reducing funding does nothing to help reduce absenteeism.

Chronic absenteeism is a complex problem that negatively impacts students, schools, and communities. Understanding its systemic causes highlights the importance of funding districts that can help alleviate the impacts of barriers, aversion, and disengagement within more disadvantaged student populations. Average daily attendance as a measure of student participation in California’s state funding formula punishes communities the most impacted by the compounded causes of chronic absenteeism, reducing the equity goal set forth by the state’s Local Control Funding Formula.

Senate Bill 98 pushes public education funding in the right direction, but it’s up to California voters to help enact bills that would shift funding calculations from average daily attendance count to annual enrollment. Public education is a vital tool for social mobility and equity, and targeted investments in the communities most impacted by chronic absenteeism will have transformative effects on students’ lives and futures.

Stella Fang studies economics and art history at Pomona College, and is an avid knitter.