Attendance should not garner schools money...successful education should. This is just a ruse.
No, it is certainly not a ruse. Taking the roll has forever been part of going to school.
Granted that education is the reason for schools. The societal need for education is the reason schools exist.
However, allocation of educational funds is currently made by governments on the basis of the number of students being educated at a specific school. For lots of reasons, that number varies from year to year and even week to week. To maintain a reasonable census of students, a day to day roll call is necessary. Although the truancy of a single student is not such a big deal, the sum of truancies of different students over time is.
I am surprised by the strong objection to the finger count. It effectively and quickly and permanently calls the roll. Not having to take a roll count and associated administrative paper pushing frees time for instruction.
The real problem is change. Some will always create reasons to object to change.