Focus on Education
The SFUSD Challenge: Save $30 million by increasing attendance.
• • • • • • • • October 2025 • • • • • • • •
Ijust signed up for the San Francisco School District’s social media campaign to increase attendance.
Color me skeptical but if we could solve chronic absences through social media my next campaign would be to get kids proficient in English though high daily doses of Tik Tok.
San Francisco, along with schools throughout the nation, is struggling to get kids to attend school.
It’s a BIG problem.
How big? Well, San Francisco has a higher percentage of students who are chronically absent (28%) than the state of California (20.4%).
The SFUSD Challenge: Save $30 million by increasing attendance.By Carol Kocivar
A student is chronically absent when 10 percent or more days of school are missed.
If we look at SFUSD absences by household income, about 33 percent of low-income students are chronically absent, and students with disabilities have an absence rate of about 35 percent.
In the 2024–25, SFUSD students lost an estimated 4.4 million hours of learning and SFUSD lost over $60 million in state funding due to student absences. In California, school funding is based on attendance. If a student does not show up, the district loses money.”
Chronic Absences Cost millions
In the 2024–25, SFUSD students lost an estimated 4.4 million hours of learning and SFUSD lost over $60 million in state funding due to student absences. In California, school funding is based on attendance. If a student does not show up, the district loses money.
If San Francisco could cut the chronic absence rate in half, it could be about $30 million ahead. That’s not small change for a district struggling to balance its budget.
Strong correlation between chronic absence and academic achievement.
Research shows that missing just two days of school each month can set students back.
The information below should scare the ….. out of you. It’s a look at which San Francisco public school kids are absent and which kids are struggling in school. These are exactly the students SFUSD has identified who need additional help to get on track.
Let’s take a look. Which kids are chronically absent? Which kids are hardly ever absent?
The students who are chronically absent are also behind in reading and math. The tables below show you by ethnicity the percentage of SFUSD students who are proficient or above in English and math.
Sure, a public media campaign can highlight the problem. But it is the day-to-day work at the school site and in the community that will turn this around.
Thank you SPARK SF and the other organizations that are helping raise the visibility of this challenge.
Our next step should be a comprehensive report to the School Board that explains the strategies at school sites, the identified needs, and the district’s month-to-month progress in fixing this.
For me, this should be the District’s number one priority. Fix this, and you will help more kids succeed and bring in millions of dollars of state funding.
Resources: Attendance Works
Why Chronic Absences matter
Learn how you can take action
What works to reduce chronic absences
Ed100 Don’t Miss School!
Edsource With expanded learning, California districts can recover attendance, help students catch up
Carol Kocivar is a children’s advocate and lives in the Westside. Feedback: kocivarATwestsideobserver.com
October 2025
