When Louisiana education leaders started to shift greater focus to fighting high rates of absenteeism in schools, we gave them credit for recognizing that the remarkable gains the state is witnessing need to be shared among the broadest student population possible. Now, after a new program to combat absenteeism launched last year, the state is seeing some gains. But the problem remains much more stubborn than perhaps first thought.
Recent data show that a little under 22% of public school students were chronically absent during the 2025-26 academic year, just a 1% drop over the previous year. While that marks the second year of absenteeism dropping, still more than 1 in 5 students in Louisiana schools is chronically absent. That’s unacceptable to us, and to education officials, who have a goal to cut absenteeism by 2% each year.
What’s going on is hard to pinpoint. The data show that chronic absenteeism actually declined in two-thirds of school districts in the state. But there are pockets where the rates are at alarming levels. In East Baton Rouge and Orleans, for instance, the rate of chronic absenteeism tops 30%. Chronic absenteeism is defined as including students who miss at least 10% of school days. It should be obvious that with that many missed days, students are in danger of falling behind or even dropping out, and research on graduation rates confirms that…