TEXAS – Chronic absenteeism among students has become a pressing issue, prompting discussions on how Texas school districts and state lawmakers respond.
2 Investigates revealed in February that the Houston Independent School District (HISD) was not reporting its truancy prevention measures and complaints, which is required by state law.
Despite the ongoing truancy problem, HISD failed to report truancy prevention efforts to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) over the past four years, according to data obtained by 2 Investigates.
Following our report, the TEA began examining the truancy data submitted by school districts across the state during this period.
Children at Risk analyzed TEA data and reported a significant rise in chronic absenteeism rates in Texas, increasing from 11% in the 2018-2019 school year to 20% in 2022-2023.
Children at Risk said it analyzed TEA’s absenteeism data, which showed the following key issues:
- More than 936,201 students missed at least one-tenth of their instruction in 2022-2023.
- Chronic absenteeism rates vary across the region. Districts in Texas range from 11% to 30% of students identified as chronically absent.
- The rate of chronic absenteeism for special education students is 25%.
- Students who are chronically absent in Pre-K, kindergarten, or first grade are less likely to meet the appropriate third-grade level reading.
- A student who is chronically absent in any year between the eighth and twelfth grades is seven times more likely to drop out of school.
What is chronic absenteeism, and how does it differ from truancy?
Chronic absenteeism, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education, occurs when a student misses 10% or more of school, about 18 days a year, for any reason, whether excused or unexcused. This issue has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. chronic absenteeism rate reached about 31% in the 2021-2022 school year and decreased to 28% in the 2022-23 school year.
In Texas, a student is truant if they have 10 or more unexcused absences in six months. The Texas Education Code also requires school districts to adopt and use truancy prevention measures to try to get kids back into class.
During a meeting earlier this year with the Texas Senate Committee on chronic absenteeism, Mani Kimball, Vice President of Children at Risk, explained the difference.
“In our discussions with legislative offices, we are often asked to clarify the distinction between truancy and chronic absenteeism. While truant students are often chronically absent, there are many factors contributing to chronic absenteeism that are beyond the student’s control, such as:
- Illness of student or relative
- Lack of engagement in school
- Lack of transportation to and from school
- Involvement with child welfare or juvenile justice
- Bullying
- Homelessness
- Health and dental issues
- Frequent changes in living situations."
Why chronic absenteeism matters
According to the Department of Education, children who are chronically absent for multiple years between preschool and second grade are much less likely to read at grade level by third grade. Studies show these students are four times more likely not to graduate from high school.
Chronic absenteeism can further disengage students from learning and hinder their connections with peers and adults.
“Attendance is directly linked to student achievement. Studies consistently show that students who attend school regularly perform better academically and are more likely to graduate,” said Kimball.
The U.S. Department of Education says chronic absence derives from multiple factors, including student disengagement, lack of access to student and family supports and student and family health challenges.
They also looked at which groups of students were most likely to be chronically absent. In 2022-2023, data showed that students of different races and ethnicities experienced chronic absenteeism at different rates. Over 40% of American Indians and Pacific Islanders missed more school than any other race in the 2022-2023 school year.
“Economically disadvantaged students are more likely to be chronically absent and have the most academic ground to lose when they miss more than 10 percent of their school year,” TEA said in a report on chronic absenteeism.
In a study on the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the Texas Education Agency (TEA) found that children from low-income families were more likely to be chronically absent than their peers. This trend is more pronounced in lower grade levels compared to secondary grades.
According to TEA data, HISD’s Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for the 2020-2021 school year was reported at 177,716.498. However, attendance numbers have declined each year, with the 2023-2024 school year reporting an ADA of 163,594.437. While attendance figures have changed, so too has the number of students enrolled in the district.
According to the district, there were 196,171 students enrolled across 280 campuses during the 2020-2021 school year. Last year, enrollment decreased to 184,109 students, with the number of campuses dropping by 274.
Attendance plays a key role in districts like HISD because Texas calculates the base student allotment on average daily attendance (ADA) rather than total enrollment. According to the TEA, the current base student allotment is $6,160.
The district explained, “When students come to class, they not only increase their learning opportunities, they also increase their school’s budget for the year. Suppose an elementary school with 500 students has an average daily attendance of 95%. That would earn the school a basic allocation of about $1.71 million. If that same school increased its average daily attendance to 98%, the difference in its basic allocation (about $54,030) is almost enough to hire another teacher for the school.”
Cy-Fair ISD superintendent, Dr. Douglas Killian, testified during a recent hearing before the Texas Senate Committee that on Education K-16 overall attendance in his district dropped from 95 percent to 93 percent.
“We lose about $7 million for every one percentage point change in the attendance rate, and that’s money we can use directly for our kids and for those services that they so sorely need," Killian testified during the hearing.
Dr. Bob Sanborn, president and CEO of Children at Risk, emphasized the importance of outreach, noting that children miss class for various reasons.
“You can’t just say it’s up to the kids and it’s up to the parents because, yes, they have the bulk of the responsibility, but the school district needs to put forward a little effort with these kids that are going to be much more likely to be absent,” Sanborn said during a previous interview with 2 Investigates. “I think at worst, you have districts that maybe don’t care about reporting this data and maybe aren’t doing a good job. But what you really want to see is them taking this seriously and saying we’re doing everything possible to get out there and get these kids back.”
How HISD is dealing with the issue
In an interview with Houston Public Media last year, HISD Superintendent Mike Miles emphasized the importance of demonstrating the value of education to combat chronic absenteeism. He stated, “For HISD and also the profession to turn around chronic absenteeism or to diminish it, kids need to see that schools have some value add. It’s worth their time to be in school every day and also to finish school.”
Miles also outlined several measures the district takes when students are not attending class, including calling parents, informing them of attendance policies, visiting students’ homes, and tracking attendance.
HISD’s Deputy Director of Schools, Daniel Girard, told 2 Investigates that the district has a truancy prevention program, despite reporting zero prevention efforts to the state over the past four school years. Girard noted that a software program used by the district notifies parents once a child has three unexcused absences in a month.
“We will send out letters and text messages, and we will make phone calls,” Girard said. “We engage our counselors to work with families to identify the barriers preventing them from coming to school. Our counselors will reach out to families, help them overcome some hurdles, and connect them with community resources or our wraparound services to address the specific issues affecting their children’s attendance.”
“Do you have any kind of ballpark figures, anything as to how often that was happening over the last four school years?” 2 Investigates’ Robert Arnold asked during an interview in Feb. 2025.
“I can’t speak to the specific numbers,” said Girard.
What’s next?
Several bills have been introduced in the Texas House and Senate during this legislative session to address truancy and chronic absenteeism.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Dist. 7) has filed two bills, SB 991 and SB 570, to address data collection on students who are truant and chronically absent.
Children at Risk’s data showed during the 2022-2023 school year, 16.6% of students who attended school in District 7, which is located in Harris County and includes Bunker Hill Village, Hedwig Village, parts of Houston, Hunters Creek Village, Jersey Village, Piney Point Village, Spring, and Tomball, missed at least one-tenth of their instruction - a total of 25,979 students.
SB 570 focuses on establishing and implementing attendance policies within school districts. It requires schools to track student attendance, notify parents about absences, and potentially hold meetings with parents if a student is facing attendance issues.
On March 25, Mandi Kimball, Vice President of Children at Risk, testified in support of SB 570, saying attendance is directly linked to student achievement.
“Studies consistently show that students who attend school regularly perform better academically and are more likely to graduate,” Kimball said. “When students miss school frequently, they fall behind in coursework, struggle to keep up with lessons, and face greater challenges in developing essential skills.”
SB 991 expands the definition of students at risk of dropping out to include those who are truant or chronically absent. This allows schools to utilize resources and support systems to address the root causes of truancy and chronic absence.
Bettencourt proposes to define chronic absenteeism in the Texas Education Code as “a student who misses 10% or more of instructional time within an academic year for any reason” and categorize it under the “risk” category.
Additionally, he aims to mandate the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to report chronic absenteeism consistently and in an easily accessible format, enhancing transparency and enabling better targeting of student support.
HB 213, authored by State Representative Mary González. The bill focuses on truancy and aims to include chronically absent students as at-risk students for funding and reporting purposes. It also requires school districts to report chronic absenteeism.
All three of the following bills have since been passed by the House and are now headed to the Senate.
