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House passes bill defining chronic absenteeism, requires review teams in high-rate schools
Summary
Senate Bill 123, which defines chronic absenteeism and requires attendance-review teams at district and school levels when certain thresholds are met, passed the House after supporters highlighted the scale of absenteeism in Georgia schools.
The House approved Senate Bill 123, a measure that defines chronic absenteeism in state law and requires school districts and individual schools that exceed specified absenteeism rates to form attendance review teams.
Chairman Matt Dubnick, speaking on the bill, cited the statewide chronic absenteeism rate of 22.6% and said the measure is a ‘‘step in the right direction’’ to require district-level teams when a district’s rate reaches 10% and school-level teams when a school’s rate reaches 15%.
Members asked how existing judicial and court processes would interact with the attendance-review teams. Dubnick said judges and judicial processes already have oversight authority referenced elsewhere in code and that the bill aligns those references for attendance and truancy matters.
Supporters emphasized in-person instruction’s educational benefits and framed the bill as a policy tool to improve student outcomes without criminalizing students or schools. On final passage the vote was 160 yeas and 1 nay.
The bill passed unanimously out of the Education Committee and had passed the Senate before coming to the House.
Details: SB 123 defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of the school year; it requires attendance review teams at district and school thresholds specified in the text and leaves implementation subject to appropriations and existing judicial authorities.
