Senate study committee hears data and local strategies as Georgia tackles chronic absenteeism

Senator John F. Kennedy convened a study committee on combating chronic absenteeism at Mercer University's President's Dining Room, bringing state and national experts, local superintendents and legislators together to review data and possible remedies.

The meeting opened with Kennedy, chair of the committee, describing chronic absenteeism as a "quiet crisis" that predated the pandemic and surged afterward: "pre-COVID it was about 9.5 percent; it spiked during COVID and got as high as about 26 percent," he said, and added that "that's 360,000 school children in our public school systems in Georgia that are chronically absent," defined in the meeting as missing 10% or more of the school year.

The nut graf: committee members and presenters urged early detection, school-climate improvements and cross-sector partnerships as the most effective strategies. Presenters emphasized that data tools, prevention and supportive responses outperform punitive approaches and recommended expanding school health and mental-health services, using tiered interventions (MTSS/PBIS) and building local attendance teams empowered to respond quickly to student- and school-level patterns.

Attendance Works executive director Hedy Chang summarized national research and practice: "Chronic absence is referring to missing 10% or more of the school year," and warned that absence patterns beginning in early grades predict later reading and achievement loss. Chang cited the "Nike swoosh" pattern of absence (high in early grades, lower in elementary, rising again in middle and high school) and urged starting with positive engagement and community partnerships rather than immediate punitive measures.

Georgia Department of Education officials presented state data and tools. Justin Hill, deputy superintendent for Whole Child at the Georgia Department of Education, previewed a public dashboard that districts can use to track attendance trends and subgroup patterns. Hill said Georgia's statewide chronic-absence rate was 19.5 percent in the most recent reporting year and called the figure a five-year low while stressing that rates remain unacceptably high in high schools and in economically disadvantaged and special-education subgroups.

The committee heard local success stories from districts that combined school climate work (PBIS), personalized outreach and targeted resources. Hill and the department highlighted examples where schools reduced chronic-absence rates sharply by hiring bilingual paraprofessionals for family outreach, assigning staff to proactive home visits and using incentives and flexible scheduling. Justin Hill described Glenn County Academy High School's drop from about 32% to 13.8% after combining data use, bilingual outreach and administrative interns making positive calls.

The Get Georgia Reading Cabinet's student attendance subcommittee, chaired by Gary McGivony, presented additional analysis focused on early grades. McGivony stressed the frequently overlooked category of 6—25 absences: research presented to the committee shows that missing as few as five days in early grades correlates with measurable learning loss. He reported a modeling exercise showing a 5% statewide decrease in absenteeism could raise third-grade ELA proficiency from about 38.4% to roughly 45%.

CSG South's Tyler Reinegel gave regional context, noting pandemic-driven increases across Southern states and identifying common obstacles: delayed data, siloed agency responses and conflation of chronic absenteeism with truancy. Reinegel highlighted out-of-region examples (Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island) that pair timely dashboards with coordinated community interventions and cautioned against punitive-only approaches.

Bibb County Schools Superintendent Dan Sims described local practices and limits: school-level attendance teams, breakthrough teams that perform home visits and individualized attendance cards to notify families of missed days. Sims said those approaches improved relationships and attendance where community partnerships allowed barriers (transportation, health care, childcare) to be addressed, but he also warned of staff compassion fatigue and the need for more school social workers and mental-health capacity.

Across presentations the committee identified recurring recommendations: (1) expand real-time, actionable attendance dashboards; (2) link school-level attendance teams to MTSS and to community partners; (3) prioritize school climate and PBIS as prevention; (4) increase school health and mental-health capacity (school nurses, social workers, telehealth); and (5) fund and scale local examples of successful outreach, including home visits and bilingual family engagement.

Speakers repeatedly noted that Senate Bill 123 underpinned the committee's work by formalizing the study and by encouraging local attendance teams; presenters also referenced recent legislative action on school climate and mental health in House Bill 268. The Georgia Department of Education said it obtained a three-year, $500,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help build statewide capacity, and Attendance Works invited Georgia to join a national "50% challenge" to cut chronic absence by half over five years.

The committee did not take formal votes. Members scheduled follow-up sessions: Sept. 22 (barriers to attendance), Oct. 16 (juvenile justice and enforcement tools), a November meeting on school climate committees and a Nov. 20 meeting to draft the committee's report.

Ending: Presenters and senators framed the work as long-term and cross-sectoral, with immediate priority placed on early identification, school-climate interventions and expanding school-based health and social supports to reduce avoidable barriers to daily attendance.