(The Center Square) – Nearly 20% of Georgia’s public school students were chronically absent in 2025, and while the numbers have improved, they are still much higher than prepandemic levels.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% of the school year for any reason, which is about 18 days, according to the Georgia Department of Education. The 2019 rate was 12.1%, according to the department’s Attendance Dashboard. It has steadily come down from a high of 23.9% in 2022 to 19.5% in 2025.
A Georgia House study committee on K-12 school attendance is examining why students miss school and how to address it.
Absenteeism affects student performance, members of the committee were told. If chronic absenteeism decreased among third graders by just 5%, ELA scores would improve from 38.4% to 45%, according to research from the Atlanta Regional Commission presented by education consultant Dr. Garry McGiboney.
“It would mean thousands of more students would be reading proficiently by the end of the third grade,” McGiboney said. “So it’s worth our effort, Mr. Chairman, to have this student committee.”
Students who are absent two days a month miss 20 days a year, which equals an entire school year if a student attends school from kindergarten to 12th grade, said Justin Hill, deputy superintendent of the Office of Whole Child Supports & Strategic Partnerships for the Georgia Department of Education. Double that amount, and a student misses an entire two years between kindergarten and 12th grade.
Georgia law has a provision that allows superior court judges to create Student Attendance and Climate School Climate Committees. But not all judges are doing so, McGiboney.
Sen. John F. Kennedy, R-Macon, spearheaded a bill that requires local schools to create attendance review teams. The bill also bans schools from expelling students because of chronic absenteeism.
“We must ensure that this code section is implemented with full fidelity,” McGiboney said.
Hill presented three strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. One is to reduce barriers to attendance. Those barriers include transportation, health, housing and basic needs, he said.
Improving student experiences and nudging parents and students to attend are other strategies.
The committee, chaired by Rep. Chris Erwin, R-Homer, will meet again on Sept. 22.
