HORN LAKE, Miss.  — When WREG met Cristina Johnson and her eight-year-old son Aaron, they were  headed to school for the day after a quick dental appointment.

It was still fairly early but when Aaron got to school that day, he was going to be counted absent instead of tardy like he never even showed up.

“I mean, he should (be counted present). He was at the dentist,” Johnson said.

A state law passed in 2013 changed the percentage of the school day a child could miss and still be counted present for a full day.

For example, if school starts at 8:00 a.m. and a child gets there at 10:10 a.m. or leaves before 12:50 p.m. they’re marked absent.

Prior to the new law, elementary school students in Mississippi were counted present as long as they showed up.

High school students had to be present at least half the day, which is similar to the rule in Shelby County, Tennessee.

It all changed after the state Auditor’s Office said some schools weren’t properly monitoring attendance records.

Some were even cheating the system.

So, while the law was meant to correct attendance issues, the On Your Side Investigators learned it created another problem.

Attendance is tied to funding and some districts are losing money because of the new law.

According to officials with Desoto County Schools, in one day alone in October the system lost more than $20,000 after nearly 1100 students were counted absent.

Some of the students weren’t present at all, while others simply didn’t beat the clock.

Put in perspective, $20,000 is half of some teachers’ salaries in Mississippi.

Dr. Joseph Shleweet adjusted the hours of his dental practice to accommodate more families before and after school.

“We started working late hours. Ee do open Saturdays,” he said.

“You call them for a recall appointment like a cleaning and they say ‘well, I can’t get the kid out of school because if you do, the school will consider them as absent’,” Dr. Shleweet told WREG.

Legislators worried about loss of money introduced a bill last session to change the funding formula from being based on average daily attendance, to average enrollment or membership.

It failed.

Meanwhile, parents like Christina just deal with the rule.

“I hate they count it as he misses a whole day,” she said.

WREG did speak with some schools who said they haven’t seen a change.

The state Auditor’s Office said it didn’t have any specific figures at this point on how the change has impacted districts financially.