Scott Shackford on Evolving School Attendance Tactics

Government funding for schools is partly based on student attendance. Public school systems have for decades drastically increased their number of employees at percentages far, far above the actual growth in student attendance. The result, combined with America's ailing economy and growing public employee retirement burdens, has led to significant pressure for schools to keep those students' butts parked firmly behind their desks. And as Scott Shackford reports, this battle for student attendance has led to evolving tactics by schools. Some are notably authoritarian and controlling, but not all tactics are bad. Some methods of improving student attendance actually may help undo authoritarian public education policies. Here are four tactics public schools are using to keep attendance from falling.