The second semester is upon us and it will go by very quickly. The spring semester brings with it much athletic, academic, stock show participation and other activities that impact school attendance. The bottom line is, that we need your kiddos in school each and every day and if they are out on an approved activity or regular absence, please encourage them to complete their homework and any missed projects.

Attendance and enrollment drive school funding and at the current time, San Saba ISD is seeing the lowest enrollment in its recent history. As of today, the ISD has enrolled 689 students and we started the year with over 700 students enrolled. When I first began my employment with SSISD, the District was enjoying 840+ enrollment.

The state of Texas school finance system is built in such a manner that dollars for schools are generated on the number of students enrolled and how much those enrolled students attend school. Schools do not lose attendance dollars when students are out of school attending a recognized school event, however, so many times, students are participating in those activities until late hours and do not always make it to school the next morning. Therefore, the student is absent and the District loses attendance dollars, and more importantly, the student falls behind in his/her academic work.

The number of school employees needed to operate a school is of course dictated by the number of students. If enrollment numbers and attendance do not increase, fewer individuals will be needed at school. This is a scary thought for our school and for our community.

These are hard economic times and schools suffer the same increased costs as regular businesses, home budgets or other entities, with no increased revenue provided from the state to offset these increased costs. The Legislature has promised to take a look at how they can “prop up” schools, but will not revisit the funding mechanism this session.

Just this school year the ISD has cut back on staff and student travel, capital purchases, non-essential purchases and absorbed several employment positions.

Please help us by getting your kids to school each and every day. The school financial health depends on school enrollment and student attendance.

Please remember that our website is the key to keeping up-to-date on school happenings. Please visit www.san-saba.net to view events and find information you need to know about SSISD.

Basketball is in full swing! Please try to make it to a 7/8 grade game at the White gym on Monday nights, or catch a game at Armadillo Arena on Tuesday or Friday nights.

If you have any questions about this article or any other question about school happenings please contact me at 325/372-3144.