Fighting truancy yields big dividends

Nearly three years into her battle against school truancy, District Attorney Kamala Harris has something to celebrate: There was a 23 percent drop in the number of elementary school truants at San Francisco schools this year. On the simplest level, that drop means more money for the city: The school district received an additional $372,862 in funds tied to attendance. Any additional money for education is something to be celebrated in these tough times. And on the grandest level, everyone in the city benefits when children go to school.

When she launched the truancy campaign, Harris raised more than a few eyebrows with her approach. Working with Superintendent Carlos Garcia of the San Francisco Unified School District, her office was tenacious about pursuing the parents of habitual truants: They sent letters, placed phone calls, visited them at home, and, if all else failed, dragged them into court. "People complained that we were being punitive," Garcia said. "But what about the kid's right to an education?"

What about that kid's right to an education? And what about an even larger issue, public safety? Habitual truants tend to become high school dropouts. And it's been proved over and over again that high school dropouts are both the victims and perpetrators of crime to a degree that is so disproportionate it may as well be a cause-and-effect clause. According to a study from the California Dropout Research Project, San Francisco could see 315 fewer murders and aggravated assaults per year if it could halve the school dropout rate.

That report also notes that San Francisco could generate $108 million in economic benefits with that lower dropout rate, which suggests the other vital reason why public officials statewide need to be aggressively addressing this issue. California's budgetary crisis is only getting worse, and things are highly unlikely to improve over the next few years. Given that halving the state's dropout rate could generate $12 billion in economic benefits to the state, every legislator in Sacramento should be scrambling for ways to keep kids in school. It would sure beat spending the entire year fighting over the state budget.

The only question that remains is how San Francisco can improve on its success. A 23 percent drop rate is staggering, but it only includes elementary students. Middle-school truancy dropped only 4 percent this year. That number could indicate a decline - or a fluctuation.

And despite efforts, high school truancy increased by 2 percent. Clearly, it's one thing to get parents to understand that they must send their children to school, but it is a lot more complicated once children are old enough to skip school on their own.

"With noncompliant high school students, you have to prosecute them, not their parents," Harris said. "That sends shudders up everyone's spine."

Garcia said that part of the solution for older students is a school environment they feel comfortable in and instruction that engages them.

"We recognize that some of the parents aren't responsible enough to send the kids to school," Garcia said. "But we also have to look at ourselves. What part of this do we own? What can we do to make the experience more joyful for kids?"

Adding that it is a "complex" problem, Garcia said the reasons why students in these age groups fail to make it to school range from their parents' need for a babysitter to the disruptive effect of violence in their neighborhoods.

Every school is looking at new ways to engage the students more fully, Garcia said, whether it's seeking out curriculum that feels more relevant to their students or partnering with UCSF to provide post-traumatic stress disorder therapy for students and their families.

"As we've unpeeled this onion, we've learned that there are a lot of layers," Garcia said.

Reducing the truancy rates in middle school and, especially, high school are the next steps. Halving truancy rates for older students will be a more difficult and potentially more controversial task than dealing with elementary-school truancy. (For all the hoopla, Harris' office only prosecuted seven parents in three years.) It could take longer, and there will surely be setbacks as the school district searches for a formula that works.

Most important, if San Francisco can convince students that they live in a city that cares about their success, the rewards will be enormous. The city will save money and lives.