San Diego Sets Yom Kippur As School Holiday

Beginning next year, the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur will be a school-wide holiday for all students in California's San Dieguito Union School District. Today's San Diego Union Tribune reports that the move is impelled less by religious concerns and more by those of funding. Districts receive revenue based on attendance. This year the San Dieguito school district lost more than $55,000 for the 1,196 absent Torrey Pines students on Yom Kippur, compared with under $7,600 for about 165 absent students on a typical day. In 2007, when Rosh Hashanah falls on a week day, students will have that day off instead of Yom Kippur.