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State Auditor Calls 'Count Week' An Outdated Way To Fund Schools

Around the state, public schools are counting heads this week  to  help determine how much state funding districts will receive.

But state auditor Dave Yost says “count week” is an outdated concept, and he says that attendance taken daily could easily be shared daily as well. And he says that’s important to do to avoid future scandals involving student data.

Yost:  I think after the scandal last year, everybody's probably on their best behavior this time around.  One of the things that we know for sure is that the schools are pretty good at getting the kids to come to school when they work at it really hard.  Like they do during a count week.

Last year, nine of the state’s more than 600 school districts were caught improperly withdrawing and then re-enrolling students to improve the district’s overall performance. Districts send out e-mails and letters reminding students and parents of “count week”, and often hold parties and contests to encourage attendance. However, some districts near Lancaster south of Columbus were able to reschedule “count week” since many schools are closed for the Fairfield County Fair.

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