SAN FRANCISCO – Large metropolitan school districts like San Francisco’s have an attendance problem, but it’s not students who are ditching class the most.

A recent study released by the National Council on Teacher Quality shows teachers in San Francisco are absent from class four to five days more than a typical student, on average, and will likely miss as many as 11 days in the upcoming 180-day school year, SFGate.com reports.

Those figures aren’t unusual for large urban public school systems, and are actually slightly below average for comparable districts, but it seems clear teachers in San Francisco and other places are abusing the system.

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“In San Francisco, where classes start Monday, teacher absences gained attention last year when the district struggled to find enough substitutes to fill classrooms the day before Thanksgiving break, when more than 1 in 10 teachers called in sick, took the day off or were in training,” the news site reports.

“Similar spikes in absenteeism happened several other times on a Friday or before three-day weekends.”

In other words, some educators are using their generous leave policies to extend their time off, instead of for legitimate illnesses.

And it isn’t only teachers who are playing hooky. Their classroom aides are also following their example, and calling in to extend their weekends, according to SFGate.com.

Last year, “16 percent of the 1,480 aides (were) out sick or on personal leave the Friday before Labor day,” the news site reports.

While some “educators” skipped out on students for a longer holiday weekend, others were chronically absent, missing 10 percent or more of the school year.

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According to the national study, which examined data from 40 urban districts for 2012-13, about 13 percent of teachers in San Francisco took 18 days or more off. And that’s not including those on maternity leave or disability.

It’s also below average for the 40 districts sampled in the study, which came in at about 16 percent of teachers who take 18 days or more off per year, SFGate.com reports.

“I think that is a lot,” Nancy Waymack, NTCQ managing director, told the news site.

About 20 percent of teachers in the study took three days or fewer off in 2012-13, she said, an illustration that much more can be done to control teacher absences.

“There hasn’t been a lot of attention paid to it,” she told SFGate.com. “I see it as an area where districts can improve and make a real difference.”

EAGnews has repeatedly highlighted the problems with chronic teacher absences, which the Center for American Progress contends is one of the biggest issues facing public schools.

According to the Center, “Teachers are the most important school-based determinant of students’ academic success. It’s no surprise teachers find that teacher absence lowers student achievement.

“Second, (education) resources are scarce, and any excess of funds tied up in teacher absence, which costs at least $4 billion annually (across the nation), should be put to better use.”

The problem, however, is tied directly to state laws and union contract agreements that shower educators with far more absences than necessary. Recent studies have shown that several urban Ohio school districts regularly top those with chronic teacher absence problems, which many believe is a direct result of state laws that give all educators 15 sick days per year.

In Wisconsin, several school districts have saved substantially from substitute expenses –while simultaneously improving student achievement – after reworking teacher leave polices in the wake of Act 10, landmark legislation championed by Gov. Scott Walker to reign in union labor expenses.

Act 10 allowed the state’s public school officials to unilaterally alter leave policies without union interference, and prompted many districts to cut available leave days.

The changes in Hamilton, Wisconsin schools, which cut available teacher leave from a total of 15 sick and personal days to seven, was about $125,000 in substitute cost savings and a significant improvement in student learning.