Vermont tackles chronic absenteeism with new law

ST. ALBANS, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont schools are still struggling to get students back in the classroom four years after the pandemic.

Chronic absenteeism is defined by students missing 10% or more of the school year, about 20 days of school. In the 2019-2020 school year, before COVID-19 hit, chronic absenteeism was 18% across the state. The number skyrocketed to 42% in the 2021-22 school year, the first full year that schools were back open after the pandemic. The rate has dropped since, but was still at 25% in 2023-24.

Gov. Phil Scott signed a bill this week aimed at reducing those numbers. It is based on actions being taken by the Maple Run Unified School District in St. Albans.

District Superintendent Bill Kimball says learning is a social experience. “That social learning when you’re learning math, science, language arts for the content, actually cements the learning to a deeper level of knowledge,” he said.

Student absences stem from a number of issues, including transportation, health issues, and family issues. Kimball said that since the pandemic and the reliance on remote learning, the shared community expectation that kids show up for school every day has dropped off. “It’s been hard to pull back from that in the pandemic of that… the community expectation is that your kid should be there every day,” Kimball said.

He said chronic absenteeism is directly linked with education outcomes and test scores.

In the 2023-24 school year, 25 percent of the district’s students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 20 days or more of school. The issue is not just kids cutting class. Half of the chronic absences are excused by parents.

To address the problem, the district now sends staff directly to homes to engage with parents and convince them to bring children back into the educational fold. “It’s social service supports, frankly,” Kimball said.

The new law creates a statewide framework for districts to replicate what is happening at Maple Run. Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders said flagging warning signs and bringing families back into the fold before kids miss too much class is key.

“Focus on prevention and support before it comes to the point of a student becoming chronically absent,” Saunders said. She says truancy enforcement continues to be a tool, but is approached as a last resort. “What we’re signaling here is a more comprehensive approach that’s grounded in best practices to address the root cause of why students are not attending school.”

However, the bill also expands the definition of an excused absence, allowing parents to pull students for more reasons, like vacations or private sports leagues.