Implementation Funding

As you can see from the information contained in this toolkit, truancy is a complex issue requiring a multifaceted, comprehensive approach. There are many ways to support and fund programs that help address the challenge of truancy in our schools and communities. The following section lists applicable federal and state funding streams that can be used to assist schools in truancy reduction efforts.

There are a variety of funding resources administered through PDE's Student Services & Migrant Education Division that can be used for activities that directly and indirectly increase at-risk children's school attendance. These include:

  • Accountability Block Grant funding: under the Social and Health Services option, school districts may elect to use their allocated funds for truancy prevention activities.
  • Successful Students' Partnership grants provide direct funding to schools for implementation of long-range, comprehensive dropout prevention strategies that address underlying issues leading to students' academic failure and withdrawal from school.
  • Education Mentoring grants enable community-based organizations to link students with caring, responsible mentors to improve students' academic performance and increase their school attendance.
  • Teen Parent programs provide comprehensive case management, counseling, child care, transportation and other assistance to enable expectant and parenting teens to be good parents, attend school on a regular basis and succeed academically.
  • After School programming (21st Century Community Learning Center and ELECT Student Works) builds student resiliency and increases student academic performance, which often results in improved school attendance.
  • Migrant Education funding provides after school and summer academic and other skill building activities, which can prevent truancy.
  • Homeless Children and Youth programs keep homeless students in their schools of origin, when possible, and coordinate educational services to increase academic performance and school attendance.
State and federal agencies such as the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the U.S. Department of Education, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, PA Departments of Health, Education and Welfare, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, to name a few, promote programs that reduce truancy.

Some funding opportunities are directly related to reducing truancy while others have an indirect, but appreciable, impact. For example, Title IV, 21st Century Schools, consists of two parts. Part A, the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program provides funds to schools to reduce alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and violence related behavior of school age youth. Under this program, schools may fund drug and violence prevention activities designed to reduce truancy. We are aware that a significant number of students are absent from school as the result of fear for their safety from bullies, violence and weapons. School-wide implementation of a bullying prevention program can improve school climate and thus reduce truancy. Some students are absent from schools as the result of substance abuse related problems; therefore, programs directed at reducing substance abuse may also impact truancy and other attendance issues. Part B, 21St Century Community Learning Centers, provides funds to schools for before and after school programs. Grantees can use their funds to support "programs that provide assistance to students who have been truant, suspended or expelled".