LA marks Attendance Matters Day to bring students back

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Members of the Los Angeles Unified School District are knocking on doors of students who have stopped attending classes, expecting to bring both students and millions of dollars back to school.

Superintendent Austin Beutner visited chronically absent students’ homes Friday as part of the Attendance Matters Day, when the nation’s second-largest school district conducts home visits, phone banking and community canvassing.

The district loses state funding for each day a student is absent. In the 2016-17 school year, more than 80,000 students, or 14.3 percent of the student population, were chronically absent.

LAUSD says more than 5,000 students have returned to school since the first coordinated effort began 10 years ago.

The district combats absences by sending postcards, calling parents, giving attendance improvement rewards, and using other incentives.