Attendance funding for Clemens

Clemens gets a certain amount of money each school year through attendance. This is not a new concept, so most kids and staff are well aware. Yet, the students and staff of Clemens still miss so much school even though they know Clemens gets some of their money from attendance.
For the most part, kids get sick so they are unable to go to school. That counts as an excused absence as long as they have a note, so it doesn’t really matter, right? Students believe that since it’s an excused absence, it doesn’t matter since it won’t count against them. While that is true, it’s also not. Clemens earns a certain amount of their funding from the students’ presence at school. There is nothing anyone can do about getting sick, but when kids go to school while they are sick, it causes everyone around them to be exposed to germs  in one way or another. When a kid goes to school when they are sick, it’s causing everyone around them to have a higher risk of getting sick. Which could lead to more absences in the school and the school is unable to get the money they need to run the school.
Some students don’t care about their attendance, or school in general. If they don’t care about the school or attendance, the school suffers. Clemens won’t get as much money as they could potentially have and that could hurt the school. If they aren’t getting as much money as they possibly can, the school won’t have enough money for things and extra activities the students might want in the future. The students could start to ask questions about why they can’t have this and that, but the truth is, it’s the students’ responsibilities to show up to school. If the students start wanting things but show up less than needed, the school won’t have the money for what they want. “I’m opposed to the school getting money off of our attendance. We don’t get money for going there and they do. We’re doing what we’re legally required to do so they shouldn’t be making money off of what we’re required to do,” said Sam Mcdowell. (09)
While some students feel as if the school shouldn’t gain money from them going to school because it’s something the state of Texas says they have to do, others feel differently. They know that they have to go to school, but if the school didn’t gain money from students’ attendance, the school could be a completely different environment. The hallways could be trashed since the school wouldn’t be able to pay their employees, Clemens wouldn’t be able to enter any of the students into UIL competitions, or they would not be able to provide sports teams with new uniforms or equipment. Of course, these are just some of the many complications that could occur if Clemens were to stop earning money from students’ attendance. “School districts in Texas receive state funding based in part on average daily attendance numbers, which ultimately determines how much Clemens gets from the state,” said Ms. Mora, the attendance clerk.
Regardless if students agree with this policy or not, Clemens earns money for their students’ attendance. There isn’t anything they can do about it, except use the money for Clemens’ needs and things the students want. Students who are opposed to the policy will make that choice for themselves, but their school life could look much different if Clemens did not get that extra money from attendance.

​Kaylee Mora
Staff Writer