BRANDYWINE, Del. – There’s no doubt that state officials everywhere get tired of local school district officials constantly demanding more money to meet their needs.

But those states that impose expensive policies on school districts create their own grief.

If they refuse to give districts the tools to manage their own costs – particularly labor costs – they can expect their phones to keep ringing with calls from desperate school officials.

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The state of Delaware’s statute regarding paid days off for public school employees is a good example of this problem.

The law gives school employees one paid day of sick leave per month, which means 10 days for 10-month employees, 11 days for 11-month employees and 12 days for year-round employees. The law encourages the use of sick days by giving employees three personal days per year, which are charged as sick days.

Those regulations end up costing the state’s schools a great deal in terms of instruction. Numerous studies have demonstrated that students lose a lot of learning time due to teacher absence.

They also cost schools a great deal of money at a time when they don’t need extra costs.

A recent news item, for example, noted that the Christina school district has a $6 million budget deficit and will be asking voters to approve new taxes to cover that debt.

An Intent post about the Brandywine school district notes that the district has been thriving “despite budget cuts” that have curtailed normal professional development activities for educators.

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The Christina district reported employees taking 21,557 sick days and 7,432 personal days in 2013-14. The district reported 2,888 active employees, which means they averaged about 10 paid absences per employee.

The district did not report how much was paid in salary to absent employees, but did report spending $1.8 million in wages for substitute teachers.

The Brandywine school district reported employees taking 6,209 sick days and 2,321 personal days in 2013-14. The district has 1,213 employees, according to its website, which means they averaged about seven days of paid sick and personal days.

The district paid out $2.3 million in salary to teachers and other employees for sick and personal days. It also paid $659,634 in wages to substitute teachers.

The same state law also forces school districts to pay a lot of money to employees with good attendance. According to the statute, employees are allowed to cash out up to 90 days of unused sick time at retirement.

In 2013-14, the Christina district was forced to pay out $412,358 in compensation for unused sick days while the Capital district paid out $195,531. The Brandywine district did not report how much it paid out in this category.