If you walk through the front doors of just about any TCAPS building, you will see the reminder. Today was a very important day to be in class.

    Cindy Berck Director of Human Resources for TCAPS says "They take attendance; we get a number we ask that parents and guardians insure that those children are in attendance on count day. It's critical."  It's critical to be present today not because a lesson was taught, or a test was given but rather that the results of simple head count today will have lasting and far reaching impacts. Today was the first of two Count Days at districts all around the state. A viewer who say the poster at their child's school wondered how it works and why is it so important. Here's the answer.

      TCAPS and most school districts around the state depend on funding from the State of Michigan on a per pupil basis.  Last year TCAPS received just over 73-hundred dollars per pupil in the form of the student foundation grant. The district uses that money to cover the educational costs. For example, if TCAPS had 100 students in the district and was reimbursed 73 hundred dollars in per pupil funding, they would get 730,000 dollars for the school year from the state. If they had 200 students at the same rate, TCAPS would get 1.46 million dollars. It's pretty basic, more students means more money from the state.

     On Count Days districts determine just how many students, and ultimately how much they will be receiving from the state. So once in September, and then again in February, districts take an attendance call that counts an awful lot. Berck says "there is a number that is audited and the 2 counts are blended together to come up with a blended count that number is used by the state of Michigan to determine the funding that TCAPS ultimately receives." 

     So what if your child was sick today? Does your district miss out? Not really as long as you called your school to let them know why your child was not attending. Berck says "we can consider it an excused absence and count that student in our count day."

      And count day this year maybe even more critical than ever before. Budget cuts in Lansing could mean a drop of hundreds of dollars per student. A student not in class on count day costs the district essentially twice. First, the district does not get the per pupil funding for that student, and then, that have to siphon money from other students to cover the uncounted child's expenses.

     There is a lot of talk about budget issues within our schools, and within our state.  Some tough decisions are to be made out there. Where do you stand? Should education be a priority for the state or do changes need to be made as to how we fund our students and our schools?

     PLEASE LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS BELOW.