November 2025: AESA State Examiner

Chronic absenteeism has emerged as one of the most significant state legislative issues impacting K-12 education in 2025.

While chronic absenteeism has declined from its pandemic peak of 28 percent in 2021-22 to 23 percent in 2023-24, it remains far above pre-pandemic levels—representing approximately 14 million students who miss at least 10 percent of the school year. This persistent crisis has prompted an unprecedented shift: states are increasingly moving from local management to state-level legislative solutions, creating new opportunities and responsibilities for ESAs to support districts navigating these changing expectations.

The Legislative Landscape: A 2025 Snapshot

FutureEd has identified 56 bills across 22 states in the 2025 legislative session addressing chronic absenteeism and attendance challenges, with 15 bills already enacted. This legislative momentum represents a significant policy shift from viewing attendance as solely a local district matter to recognizing it as a state-level priority requiring coordinated intervention frameworks.

Key Enacted Legislation in 2025

• Georgia's SB 123 prohibits expelling students solely for absenteeism and requires local school boards to establish attendance review teams and intervention plans for chronically absent students. Georgia lawmakers also passed HR 711 and SR 217, calling for comprehensive studies on absenteeism patterns and solutions.
• Indiana's SB 482 bans punitive discipline based solely on truancy, while HB 1201 formally defined chronic absenteeism as missing 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason, distinguishing between excused and unexcused absences.
• Virginia's HB 2601 strengthens attendance tracking requirements; mandating schools maintain not only daily attendance records but also class-by-class attendance data to ensure more accurate and detailed monitoring.
• Texas's SB 991 adds chronically absent students to the definition of those "at risk of dropping out," expanding eligibility for intervention services and resources.
• Ohio's approach through House Bill 96 removed the previous definition of "excessively absent" and replaced it with "chronically absent" to facilitate early intervention. Districts must adopt new chronic absenteeism policies by August 1, 2026, and Governor DeWine has set an ambitious goal of cutting chronic absenteeism in half by the 2028-29 school year.

State Legislative Approaches to Addressing Chronic Absenteeism
Click on the chart to see it in larger scale.

The 2025 legislative approaches can be categorized into several key strategies:

• Early Warning and Data Systems — Eight states have enacted legislation requiring enhanced attendance tracking, including class-by-class monitoring. Virginia's HB 2601 exemplifies this approach, requiring schools to maintain detailed attendance records beyond simple daily presence.
• Attendance Review Teams — Six states now mandate school-level intervention teams. Georgia's SB 123 requires local boards to establish attendance review teams with intervention plans for chronically absent students.
• Anti-Punitive Measures — Five states have moved away from punitive approaches, prohibiting expulsion or punishment based solely on absenteeism. This shift recognizes that punitive responses often exacerbate underlying issues driving absences.
• Definition and Threshold Standardization — Four states formally codified chronic absenteeism at the 10 percent threshold, providing clarity for data collection and intervention triggers.
• Family Support and Engagement — Four states require family outreach and intervention plans, acknowledging that sustainable attendance improvement requires partnership with families.
• Statewide Task Forces — Three states, including Maryland and Georgia, created commissions to study chronic absenteeism patterns and recommend comprehensive policy responses.

Why This Matters: The Policy Connections

Chronic absenteeism intersects with virtually every major k-12 education policy priority facing states in 2025, making it a lynchpin issue for ESAs working across multiple program areas. This presents opportunities for cross-jurisdiction and cross-agency partnerships that require coordination and facilitation; core roles for ESAs across the United States as convener, facilitator and broker of services regardless of where they are located or what they are called. Four key priority areas include the following:

• Mental Health — Perhaps the most significant driver of current elevated chronic absence rates is student mental health. Since the pandemic, studies have found that anxiety and depression are the main drivers of health-related absenteeism. Poor mental health can be both a cause and an effect of absenteeism—when students miss school, their absence can lead to social isolation and loneliness, deepening mental health struggles for those with existing challenges. In its research, Attendance Works notes that educators across the country report student anxiety, depression, and sadness are more prevalent than ever before. The anxiety-attendance dynamic creates a worsening cycle: anxiety leads to absences, absences increase academic pressure and isolation, which exacerbates anxiety and leads to more absences.

 

• Academic Achievement and Literacy — Research consistently demonstrates the strong connection between regular attendance and critical school measures and improved academic outcomes. Students who attend school regularly perform better in reading proficiency, overall academic achievement, and high school graduation rates. This connection is particularly acute given the Science of Reading reforms sweeping states—students cannot benefit from improved literacy instruction if they are not present to receive it.

 

• Workforce Readiness — Chronic absenteeism also has long-term implications for workforce outcomes. One study exploring how absenteeism affects educational attainment and labor market outcomes found that absences have both short- and long-term negative impacts, with significant effects on exam performance and future employment prospects. Additionally, the state of Ohio's Attendance Taskforce recognized this connection, noting that successful attendance intervention means students "successfully participate in training, education and careers" and "have the skills to support their families in growing employment sectors".

 

• Accountability Systems — With more than 70 percent of states using chronic absence as an indicator in their ESSA accountability systems, attendance data directly impacts school accountability ratings. As states reimagine accountability systems beyond test scores—a topic the AESA State Examiner addressed in September 2025—chronic absenteeism provides a critical non-academic measure of school effectiveness and student engagement.

 

National Chronic Absenteeism Trends
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The trajectory of chronic absenteeism nationally illustrates both the scale of the challenge and the progress being made:

 

Period	Chronic Absenteeism Rate
Pre-pandemic baseline (2018-19)	~15%
Pandemic peak (2021-22)	28%
Current rate (2023-24)	23%
Goal in many states	50% reduction by end of decade

 

While the decline from 28% to 23% represents meaningful progress, current rates remain roughly 50% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Southern states have been particularly impacted, with chronic absenteeism rates nearly double their 2018-19 levels in many communities.

How Educational Service Agencies Can Assist

ESAs are uniquely positioned to support districts navigating this evolving legislative landscape. Their intermediary role—connecting state policy with local implementation—makes them natural partners in attendance improvement efforts. Leading examples include the following:

Data Analysis and Early Warning Systems

ESAs can provide the data infrastructure and analytical capacity many districts lack. Ohio's Department of Education and Workforce specifically notes that "effective implementation of attendance initiatives relies on actionable attendance data, which Ohio districts can access through dashboards linked to their Student Information System and with guidance from credentialed Regional Data Leads at their State Support Teams or Educational Service Centers".

Recommended Actions:

• Develop regional attendance dashboards with real-time data access
• Train district staff on data interpretation and early warning indicators
• Facilitate data-sharing protocols across districts to identify regional patterns

Professional Development and Capacity Building

Many attendance strategies require specialized training that individual districts cannot efficiently develop.

Recommended Actions:

• Offer professional development on trauma-responsive approaches and their connection to attendance
• Train staff on conducting effective home visits and family engagement
• Provide coaching on implementing multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) for attendance

Attendance Intervention Networks

Several ESAs have established collaborative networks that bring together attendance professionals across districts.

Recommended Actions:

• Establish regional attendance improvement networks
• Facilitate monthly or quarterly convenings for attendance coordinators
• Create shared resource repositories
• Document and disseminate local success stories

Community Partnership Coordination

Addressing the root causes of chronic absenteeism often requires resources beyond what schools can provide. Washington State's OSPI specifically highlights that "community members, organizations, and businesses are critical partners in this work" and that ESDs (Educational Service Districts) play key roles in regional coordination.

Recommended Actions:

• Employ Family & Community Engagement Liaisons
• Develop regional inventories of community resources available to address attendance barriers
• Establish Community Engagement Board protocols for intensive intervention cases
• Coordinate partnerships with mental health providers, housing agencies, and transportation services

Technical Assistance for Policy Compliance

With new state legislation requiring districts to adopt chronic absenteeism policies, ESAs can provide critical technical assistance for compliance.

Recommended Actions:

• Develop model policies aligned with new state requirements
• Provide guidance on aligning local policies with juvenile court practices
• Offer legal review support for attendance policy development

Special Population Support

Students with disabilities are among those most frequently absent from school, with chronic absence rates approximately 1.5 times higher than rates of non-disabled students. ESAs providing special education services can integrate attendance strategies into their support models.

Recommended Actions:

• Include attendance as a regular discussion item in IEP/504 team meetings
• Train special education staff on disability-specific factors contributing to absences
• Ensure accessibility supports and accommodations are fully provided to remove attendance barriers

Bottom Line

The shift toward state-level chronic absenteeism legislation in 2025 represents a significant evolution in education policy. State lawmakers have clearly signaled that attendance is no longer solely a local concern but a statewide priority requiring coordinated intervention.

For ESAs, this legislative momentum creates both opportunity and responsibility. ESAs are uniquely positioned to serve as the connective tissue between state policy directives and local district implementation—providing the data infrastructure, professional development, collaborative networks, and technical assistance that effective attendance intervention requires. By positioning themselves as attendance improvement partners, ESAs can leverage their intermediary role to help ensure that every student has the opportunity to be present, engaged, and successful.

As states continue to refine their approaches—moving from punitive to supportive, from local to coordinated, from reactive to preventive—ESAs that build capacity in this policy area will be essential partners in addressing one of education's most pressing challenges.