Student truancy and chronic absences is still considered a crisis in California, according to State Attorney General Kamala Harris. She says around 230-thousand K-8 students missed more than 10-percent of the 2013-2014 school year, placing them in the “chronically absent” category. 23-percent were considered “truant” if they had three or more unexcused absences. In Nevada County, the truancy rate increased six points, to 22-percent. County Schools Superintendent Holly Hermanson says that is a concern. But she says it’s hard to tell how bad the problem is, since districts collect data differently…

click to listen to Holly Hermanson

Hermanson also points out that the Nevada County District does not currently collect data for chronically absent students, considered the biggest concern, and only 10-percent of districts in California do it. But she says a more consistent and complete collection system should be set up in the near future…

click to listen to Holly Hermanson

The Attorney General’s Office says over 95-percent of reporting districts have made changes to policies and programs to improve attendance. Better attendance also improves state funding. Nevada County lost 529-thousand dollars in per-pupil funding from its truancy rate increase.