Yom Kippur conflicts with count day in Michigan schools

Michigan superintendents will be counting students on Oct. 5, but many children will not be in school because they observe a major Jewish holiday. 

It’s a crucial day for Michigan school districts trying to maximize state funding, but this year it coincides with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year when the observant fast, pray, and abstain from work and school.

State education funding for Michigan public schools is determined largely by student attendance on the first Wednesday in October. The base funding provided by the state school aid budget, which is $9,150 per student, is at stake.

Districts with large Jewish populations, such as West Bloomfield or Walled Lake, are close to Yom Kippur. These districts are allowed to apply for waivers under state law. The Michigan Department of Education granted five of them. 

But it’s more complicated for schools that are in session that day but have students who observe Yom Kippur.

“There is no provision in current state law that permits the state superintendent to provide a waiver for a local school district that is in session on count day,” state Assistant Superintendent Kyle Guerrant wrote last week in a memo to superintendents. 

These districts can count students absent if they are excused, return to school within 30 day and attend all classes. Excuses for religious observances can be granted. 

That’s helpful but it isn’t fair, said Jeanice Swift, superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools, which will be in session on Yom Kippur. She wants the same flexibility as districts that aren’t in session – to move count day to a date that isn’t a religious holiday.

Having a high-stakes school day on a religious holiday conflicts with her district’s core value of respecting different faiths, Swift said. 

A group of community faith leaders met more than a decade ago to create a calendar with religious holidays and rank them by their significance. Yom Kippur was designated a three-star holiday by them, which is the highest category. Major exams, reviews for major examinations, standardized tests and sports and arts tryouts are all prohibited in the district. Proms are also prohibited on three-star days. Other three-star holidays include Ramadan and Rosh Hashanah as well as Christmas, Epiphany and Passover, Holy Friday, Palm Sundays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

“It’s a model that has been emulated across the country because it really is a community coming together to observe and respect each others’ holiest days,” Swift said. “It’s about providing sensitivity to sacred days across the most practiced religions in our community.”

Guerrant said he understands that argument, but state law doesn’t allow waivers for districts that remain in session on the holiday.

“This is a very important day to the Jewish community and having this overlap with count day feels disrespectful,” Guerrant said in a telephone interview. “We understand and appreciate those concerns but we’re in a bind in the sense that we don’t have the ability to provide a waiver because of the way the law is structured right now.”

Swift stated that she had spoken to legislators about amending the law, but no legislation has been introduced. 

Guerrant stated that MDE will continue to work with districts in order to ensure that every student is counted. 

“We want to make sure a district is not penalized financially,” he said. “We want to make sure they don’t miss a student.” 

Tracie Mauriello is responsible for state education policy at Chalkbeat Detroit. Reach her at tmauriello@chalkbeat.org.