Four more South Dakota school districts have been awarded grants to fund programs addressing chronic absenteeism.
The Leola, Mitchell, Spearfish and Watertown school districts each received Addressing Chronic Absenteeism Grants of up to $500,000. Money from the grants will fund transportation; mentoring and tutoring programs; student, family and community engagement activities; and more.
Secretary of Education Joseph Graves says recipients will implement attendance strategies, which will then be reviewed by the State. He says successful program models will be shared with school districts in the rest of the state.
Graves says they hope to build a consensus that works throughout the state in order to get districts back to their pre-pandemic attendance rates. The statewide attendance in the 2022-23 school year was 86.41%t versus 85.65% for the previous year.
The first round of grants was awarded to the Pierre, Sioux Falls, Wilmot, Waubay and Sisseton school districts in July (2023).
These grants were awarded on a competitive basis to high-needs school districts. The grant funds are made available from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was signed into law in 2022.
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