2/25 State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne says he’s going to crackdown on chronic absences among public school students. Horne is urging all schools to adopt measures that call for 9-unexcused absences resulting in a student failing a course and 5-tardies counting as an absence. Horne’s comments come after a presentation by Phoenix-based Helios Foundation. The report shows that the rates of chronic absences climbed across nearly every grade level in the 2022-23 school year compared to levels prior to the pandemic. The data shows absenteeism rates for all grade levels of approximately 9% during the 2019-20 school year compared to 30% from the 2022-23 school year.
