Is San Diego students go back to school will discuss the challenges ahead for schools, teachers and students. A former military spouse talks about the strains of enduring 15 years of war. This is KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. It's Monday, August 29. Our top story on KPBS Midday Edition, it's back to school day. The new semester begins today for the County's largest district, San Diego unified. California schools are more upbeat about their goals and resources than recent years. The deep cuts are over and many programs and instructors have been restored. That doesn't mean this new year is without challenges. Some questions have popped up about charter schools, anti-bullying programs and teacher absences. Joining me are Mario Koran, Lauren Schroder. Mario, a big change was just announced they have opened up preschool for a fee for all families not just the free preschool. Do you know what prompted that? I can't speak to what prompted it. It seems to be a bit hurried and they announced it one week before school started. I can speak to some of the challenges they have had with preschool, specifically filling up the seats. Finding enough kids, who are interested in eligible, who meet the income requirement, which is low. In 2014 700 of those preschool spots went unfilled. Last year about 1000 went unfilled. The district officials are thinking of how they can fill some of those spots. It seems like they've decided on opening up some for a fee. You have been writing about charter schools and their turf wars with school districts. Apparently school districts are concerned, why is that? San Diego Unified School District is steadily losing enrollment to charter schools. It's currently 19% of district students are attending charter schools and the numbers are growing every year. The district, is thinking of what it can do to better market itself and bring in some of those families that are choosing charter schools. It's the first time that we see the district confronting this idea of marketing itself and how it can provide better customer service, to bring in more families. Wire parents choosing charter schools? I believe there is controversy, apparently some parents are choosing charter schools even when the public school in their neighborhood has better test scores. Right. Charter schools are controversial. The more we find, parents are choosing charter schools for any number of reasons. They like the instructional approach or it simply on their way to work and convenient. But, we also have an interesting trend in that, there are some parts of town namely, Southeast San Diego were charter schools are reaching families better than the traditional schools are. By reaching families better, they are taking a more at the outreach efforts and bringing those families and, providing wraparound services. In the past, that used to be the specialty of the district schools. We really seek charter schools filling that void. Lauren, you had an interesting article on teacher absences. What did you find? According to data from the US Department of Education, we found nearly one out of every four teachers in San Diego County school districts were labeled as being chronically absent for 2013-2014 school year. That means they missed 10 or more days during the year. What does it -- what effect does it have on students? Studies have shown that students whose teachers missed 10 or more days of school, they have lower math achievement and less engagement in school. Data in San Diego County showed minority students were more likely to be absent when their teachers were. You found teacher absences, the percentage of chronic absences, outdoes absent students. The definition differs for students and from teachers. Students have 15 days. We found fewer than one every 10 students were chronically absent. There are explanations given that most teachers have 10 days of sick leave, per semester. It varies by where they have to report that into. If teachers after reported to the principal, it seems that their number of absences go down. Correct. There have been studies that show there is no correlation between any incentives that schools offered, a bonus is an example. They did not find any relationship between a school that had those incentives and those that didn't. They did see this was a school level issue, it was up to the principal or the leaders of the school to set and emphasize a protocol for teachers. They were less likely to call in sick if they knew there would not be an adequate substitute or if their colleagues were going to have to pick up the slack. Also, if they had an automated system were they could use that rather than call their boss. The bullying statistics are surprising. Some schools are reporting zero instances of bullying. It 60% of San Diego school districts and charters reported zero bullying incidents on the basis of sex, race or disability. What are officials making of those statistics? The data was recently released, anti-bullying organizations have called out the school districts for reporting. It doesn't reflect any studies on this issue. The US Department of Education says there's a new category there's always issues with that. There's issues with how it's reported and there's a barrier between the school level incidents and what's reported. It might be handled and news of something happening. You have a listing of schools and instances. It's on our website, union tribune.com, it's attached to the bullying story. There's a list of schools that reported zero's and a database where you can search for the reported incidents. I've been speaking with Lauren Schroder and Mario Koran. Thank you both very much.
Students all over the county are heading back to public, private and charter schools with anticipation. And as with any school year, challenges await.
Despite their growing numbers, charter schools remain controversial. In San Diego County, there are now more than 100 charters offering classroom instruction or independent study.
The schools receive funds from the local school district, and in the San Diego Unified School District, that may soon become a problem. The funds allocated to charter schools through 2012's Proposition Z are about depleted.
Elsewhere, there are battles over whether charter schools can open satellite campuses outside their home school district.
In San Diego Unified, as elsewhere, preschool is expensive. The district offers subsidies to low-income families, but Voice of San Diego's Mario Koran reports that those subsidies are very hard to quality for — and stay qualified for. Now, the district has announced a program offering pre-K for all for around $530 a month.
That is less than the county average of $820 a month, but out of reach of many families.
School bullying incidents, some of them with tragic consequences, make the news on a regular basis. But a recent report on the 2013-2014 school year by the U.S. Department of Education noted that 60 percent of San Diego County schools reported no harassment or bullying on the basis of race, sex or disability at all.
Statewide, the number of schools reporting zero incidents is even higher: 68 percent. Some experts find these statistics completely unrealistic.
And finally, during the next school year, a student has a pretty good chance of getting a substitute teacher more than once. A study by the U.S. Department of Education reports that teachers have higher chronic absence rates, i.e., more than 10 absences during a year, than students.
In San Diego County, one out of four teachers is a chronic absentee.
Reporters Koran and Lauryn Schroder from The San Diego Union-Tribune discuss the school year ahead on Midday Edition on Monday.
