San Diego News Online

"Advances in technology offer school districts an exciting opportunity to streamline attendance accounting, which is usually done manually and can become quite cumbersome," said O'Connell. "As part of my Paperwork Reduction Initiative, I am advising school districts that they may start using electronic attendance accounting or digital signatures to speed up the process and save time and money, so schools can increase concentration on teaching."

Student attendance data are used to calculate a school district's Average Daily Attendance (ADA) that determines its general purpose and other funding. As an eye-witness to a pupil's presence or absence, a teacher's dated signature (whether manual or electronic) provides a valid, contemporaneous record of attendance, ensuring compliance with compulsory attendance laws and providing the basis for more than $30 billion in kindergarten through twelfth grade apportionment funding.

Currently, teachers typically record student attendance each day electronically by computer or manually by paper attendance roster. Then the teacher reviews the attendance forms for accuracy at the end of the week and certifies the attendance records by signing and dating the forms. For auditing purposes, the district then must retain these signed forms for three years. This results in large stacks of paper to be filed at school or district offices. During the auditing process, an unfound or unsigned attendance form could result in an audit finding of the reported ADA being disallowed or reduced funding.

With electronic attendance accounting and certification, a teacher uses a secure computerized system to enter a pupil's presence or absence as well as certify, as correct, the information entered with a password which becomes the teacher's certification. With these systems, there would be no need to print up either attendance forms or seek the teacher's signature for auditing purposes. Auditors can then search electronically for attendance data versus searching for hard-copy certifications. This helps reduce the risk of audit findings and saves time and money.

In order to implement electronic attendance accounting and certification programs, local educational agencies must seek approval from the CDE and adhere to certain parameters. These parameters include using an electronic attendance accounting system that has been approved by the CDE and that can track and verify information, including individual employees using the system, relies on passwords, is accessible for review, and has been reviewed by an auditor.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is one local educational agency that will benefit in replacing its paper-based, weekly teacher verification of attendance with electronic attendance certification. 

"During these challenging economic times when resources are stretched thin, we appreciate the efficiencies afforded to the school districts by the state's adoption of new technologies," said LAUSD Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines. "Also, having electronic attendance data available to parents, teachers, and educational leaders throughout the District facilitates our attendance improvement efforts and enables better data-driven decisions regarding students, instruction, and programs."

"We're saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in materials and staff time, as well as preserving trees," added LAUSD's Chief Operating Officer David Holmquist.

For more information on electronic attendance accounting and teacher digital signature alternatives, please visit Electronic Attendance Accounting - Attendance.