SLV School District Perspectives

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What is "ADA"?

ADA stands for "Average Daily Attendance", and is calculated by dividing the number of students attending school by the number of days in the school year (180). Note that this is different from enrollment - it is based on actual student attendance at school each day. Therefore, the ADA will be less than enrollment, for any absence, even an excused absence, counts against the ADA.

The important thing about ADA is that California public schools receive most of their funding based on the ADA figure. Often when people involved in schools use the term "ADA", what they are really talking about is "the amount of money the District receives for each student via the ADA calculation". Example: "We hope the Media Academy at the High School will bring in ADA" - means we hope students who currently are being educated outside the SLV District will attend the Media Academy, which will have benefits not only for the student, but will help the SLVUSD financially. Conversely, when students who live in the SLV leave District schools, you will sometimes hear people refer to this in terms of "losing ADA".