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Committee advances attendance reporting changes after testimony on students "falling through the cracks"
Summary
House File 1053 (as amended) would add reporting and notification requirements to address the so-called 15‑day drop (students unenrolled after 15 consecutive unexcused absences). The committee adopted the author's DE amendment and an A4 amendment to add an attendance indicator to individual MCA reports.
The committee took up House File 10 53 on April 1 to discuss attendance, chronic absenteeism and a statutory process commonly referred to as the "15‑day drop"—the administrative unenrollment that occurs when a student misses 15 consecutive school days. The authors’ DE amendment and a subsequent A4 amendment were adopted by the committee.
What the bill and amendments do: The DE language submitted by the author would require school districts, after a 15‑day unexcused absence, to notify the county welfare agency and follow certain reporting steps; the A4 amendment requires that attendance indicators be added to the individual student report cards (the MCA parent/student reporting document) so families and educators have a clearer attendance signal tied to academic reporting. Representative Boeckberg, a co‑author of the attendance study work, said the changes aim to capture students who "disappear" from enrollment rosters so counties and schools can coordinate outreach and child‑protection or support services when required.
Testimony: Ashley Hightower with Hennepin County’s Be at School program told the committee that students who become 15‑day drops often are not seen by counties unless schools report them, leaving children unenrolled and out of school for months in some cases. "These students are literally falling through the cracks because of a funding policy," Hightower said. She provided counts used by her program: to date in the current reporting period she cited 7,878 (live total referenced during testimony) and said last year her program received 658 referrals flagged as 15‑day dropped, this year 613 so far. (Ashley Hightower, Hennepin County)
MDE comments and pilot work: Minnesota Department of Education staff said MDE and pilot districts are testing interventions; MDE noted there was prior pilot funding for 13 districts and said outcomes from those pilots would inform best practices. MDE cautioned that if the department were to take on direct outreach the agency would need resources to maintain timely data and staff trained for family outreach. (Ado Shuni, MDE)
Disposition: The committee adopted the DE amendment and the A4 reporting amendment and laid House File 10 53 over for possible omnibus inclusion or further discussion; committee members asked for follow-up on data-sharing mechanics and resources needed for timely outreach.
