San Miguel Joint Union: attendance

35 empty seats, every school day.

On an average day in 2024–25, about 35 of San Miguel Joint Union's 668 students were not in school. The state pays for students who attend, so those empty seats were worth about $474k that year.

35students absent on an average day

$474ka year in attendance funding those seats would bring

1 in 7students chronically absent (14.6%)

94.8%attendance rate; California 92.9%

San Miguel Joint Union's own schools, 2024–25. Charter schools are funded separately and left out. Method and sources at the foot of the page.

Enrolled, but not in school

Each bar is everyone enrolled that year. The blue part is how many were in school on an average day; the red part is how many were not.

In school on an average dayAbsent on an average day

Numbers on the bars: students absent on an average day. 2019–20 has no attendance data (COVID); 2020–21 was mostly distance learning.

What the empty seats are worth

California pays a district or charter school for each student in school on an average day (its Average Daily Attendance, or ADA). Each empty seat, valued at that year's dollars per ADA:

Hatched years: the state froze or protected attendance funding during COVID, so absences that year did not cut the money. Since 2022–23 a district is paid on the best of this year, last year or a three-year average, which softens a fall but also delays a rise.

What better attendance would bring

Attendance rate is the share of enrolled students in school on an average day. Move the slider to a higher rate: how many more seats would be filled, and what would it receive?

Attendance rate: 96.8%

Already above San Luis Obispo County average (93.1%) and California before COVID (94.6%).

13more students in school on an average day

3.6fewer days missed per student a year

$183kmore attendance funding a year, at 2024–25 rates

San Miguel Joint Union's attendance rate in 2024–25 was 94.8%. Each point is worth the same wherever it starts, since it is a point of every enrolled student's days. San Miguel Joint Union's funded ADA is close to its actual attendance, so a gain should reach its budget soon rather than being absorbed by the three-year protection. That is an estimate worth checking with the district.

Who is missing

Absence by grade

Share of students chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the days they were enrolled), by grade, 2024–25:

Kindergarten tends to run high for reasons usually put down to young children's health, transport and families' routines. A steady climb from grade 4 to grade 12 is the pattern discouragement would leave: absence that builds as students fall further behind.

Some students carry far more of it

Groups too small for the state to report are left out. Foster youth and homeless students point to the transport, housing and family pressures outside school. They are real, and no school model removes them on its own.

Why days are missed

Of the days San Miguel Joint Union students missed in 2024–25, 30% were unexcused, 66% excused (illness, appointments), 3% were independent study work not completed, and 1% were suspensions. In 2018–19, before COVID, 37% were unexcused. Unexcused absence, where no reason is given, is the kind most likely to reflect a student choosing not to come.

Students who left

San Miguel Joint Union has 69 more students than in 2014–15. California as a whole has 6.9% fewer, mostly because of the falling birth rate. Had San Miguel Joint Union changed at the state's pace it would have about 558; it has 668. It has kept pace, so the opportunity is students who are enrolled and not coming.

San Miguel Joint UnionCalifornia

Enrollment as a share of 2014–15's. Census-day counts.

How we worked it out

Absent on an average day = every day of school missed by every student that year, divided by 180 school days. In school = census-day enrollment minus that. For 2024–25 this gives about 633 students in school on an average day, against the 639 ADA the state funded.
Attendance rate = students in school on an average day ÷ students enrolled.
Dollars per ADA = LCFF revenue that year divided by funded ADA, from CDE's LCFF Summary Data: the district's own. It includes the extra grants for low-income students and English learners, so it is what an added student brings, not the statewide base rate.
Years. The absence collection began in 2017–18, and some districts' figures jump the next year in a way that looks like a change in recording, so this page starts in 2018–19. 2019–20 has no attendance data (COVID). 2020–21 was mostly distance learning, when attendance meant something different.
Chronically absent is CDE's measure: a student who missed at least 10% of the days they were enrolled.
Sources: California Department of Education: Absenteeism by Reason and Chronic Absenteeism (DataQuest downloads), Census Day Enrollment, LCFF Summary Data, CAASPP research files and Free or Reduced Price Meal files.

The numbers behind the first two charts

Year	Enrolled	Days missed	Absent, average day	In school	Funded ADA	$ per ADA	Value of empty seats
2018–19	615	4,853	27	588	592	$9,899	$267k
2020–21	593	5,906	33	560	606	$10,566	$347k
2021–22	635	10,255	57	578	613	$11,328	$645k
2022–23	655	8,128	45	610	613	$12,686	$573k
2023–24	641	6,138	34	607	611	$13,579	$463k
2024–25	668	6,218	35	633	639	$13,719	$474k