Attendance = Funding
For schools in Texas, significant funding is directly related to attendance (average daily attendance or ADA), thus higher absenteeism means less funding.
Case-in-point, in U.S. K-12 public schools, there are approximately 164 MILLION lost school days each year. That averages out to 4.5 sick days per student per year. For a large school district with 50,000 students that receives a $30/student reimbursement, a daily absenteeism rate of 1% can mean a loss of $15,000/day. If this hypothetical district averages 4.5 sick days for each student, by the end of the school year, potential funding has been reduced by $6.75 MILLION.
Disinfection = Healthy Kids
While funding is at risk, so is the health of the surrounding communities. Schools have long been thought of as breeding grounds for the pathogens that make us sick. Studies have indeed shown that more than 10 million germs inhabit the average desk, including viruses like influenza, rhinovirus (common cold), and norovirus. When schools reopen we can safely conclude coronavirus will also make it into the collection as well, but Covid-19 brings greater risks. Also shown, is that these same pathogens are most concentrated on high-touch objects like the pencil sharpener, water fountain, and paper towel dispensers.
Viruses have evolved to perpetuate and transmit person-to-person exponentially. While the 2019-2020 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has largely spared children from the illness, they can still be passive carriers. Couple that with the fact that children are more likely to touch their mouths, noses, and eyes and infect surfaces and be infected by them.
Research & Citations
- Coronavirus: characteristics of cases in pediatric Florida residents <18 years old
- Occurrence of bacteria and viruses on elementary classroom surfaces and the potential role of classroom hygiene in the spread of infectious diseases
State and Federal Resources
- CDC: Cleaning, Disinfection, and Hand Hygiene in Schools
- CDC: PSA Messages you can play on the announcements
- CDC Considerations for Schools
- Intensify cleaning and disinfection efforts – from the CDC Interim Guidance for Administrators of US K-12 Schools and Child Care Programs
- Texas Education Agency (TEA) Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support and Guidance
DFW School District Resources
- Dallas Independent School District Covid-19 Information
- Fort Worth Independent School District Covid-19
- Arlington Independent School District
- Plano Independent School District
- Grand Prairie Independent School District Roadmap to Reopening 2020-2021
- Mansfield Independent School District Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates
- Cedar Hill Independent School District
- Duncanville Independent School District
- Irving Independent School District – Back to School 2020-2021
- Allen Independent School District – Back to School 2020-2021
- Carroll Independent School District
- Richardson Independent School District
- McKinney Independent School District
- Garland Independent School District
- Mesquite Independent School District
- Frisco Independent School District
- HEB Hurst Euless Bedford Independent School District
- Keller Independent School District