Cost of Student Absences

You can estimate the amount of revenue lost each year due to student absences with this calculator. California schools lose about $50 for each day a student is absent (regardless of the reason). This is problematic because schools have mostly fixed costs (e.g. staff salaries, facilities, utilities, etc.) so any student absence immediately begins to reduce the overall budget of the school district. With sufficient absences, preferred programs like music, Band, Sports, Robotics, etc. can be negatively impacted as these are not "fixed" costs. Use the calculator to select an average number of days. If you believe it's reasonable, for example, for students to be absent 10 days out of the year, select "10". The total will then display.