Burden of asthma on California schools: Losses in student attendance, achievement, and revenue

Purpose: This paper presents data on the burden of asthma on school districts in California. The burden is defined as student absences, student achievement, and financial losses due to asthma. Asthma is an epidemic in California with the following prevalence by youth ethnic groups: Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (28%), African-American (27%), American Indian and Alaskan Native (26%), White (22%), and Latino (16%). Given the state and local budget deficits in California, it is imperative to document potentially unnecessary educational and fiscal losses, and to design policies that promote programs to reduce these losses. Discussion points: Prevalence data are compared across the major national and state-level surveys in use in California. These data are employed to estimate prevalence across school districts in the State. Data are presented for the 20 largest school districts and five additional selected districts on asthma prevalence, student absences, school achievement, and revenue losses to school districts. A methodology for estimating school absences and lost revenues is presented. Conclusion: Using this methodology, for the 20 largest school districts in the State, and the five additional select districts, 14% of students with asthma account for $40 million dollars in lost Average Daily Attendance revenues to the Districts. This does not include the additional costs of asthma related to absences and replacements of teachers, maintenance workers, and other staff. These data underline the importance of developing school policies to ameliorate the effects of asthma on those populations most severely affected by the condition.