Louisiana education leaders push back on proposal to base school funding on attendance

Several members of a new study group to examine Louisiana’s high rates of student absenteeism pushed back this week against proposals to tie school district funding to attendance, warning that doing so could backfire without addressing the root causes of why students miss school. 

Louisiana’s absenteeism rate rose between 2022 and 2024 before dropping slightly last year. Members of the state’s new Truancy Study Group suggested brainstorming ways for school systems and local agencies to better communicate with families and one other to figure out what’s driving absenteeism. Those reasons can vary widely, they said. 

Made up of nearly two dozen education professionals, including principals, superintendents, district attorneys and school counselors, the study group’s creation came at the behest of the Legislature. State Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, proposed a bill in the spring that would have tied attendance data to school funding through the Minimum Foundation Program, which is Louisiana’s formula that determines the cost of educating public school students.

Freiberg ultimately pulled the bill, saying the issue needed to be studied, and the Legislature instead passed a resolution to create the Truancy Study Group. But she said at the time that she wanted to ensure districts became “more involved in making sure students are there daily.”

The committee will meet periodically in Baton Rouge until February 2026, which is the deadline for them to submit policy recommendations to the Legislature.

“There’s a disconnect sometimes between theory and practice,” said Sharon Clark, a member of the state education board and the study group’s chair, during Wednesday’s meeting. “We want to make sure we’re coming up with solutions that work across the state.”

Pressing concerns

The number of students frequently missing school in Louisiana skyrocketed during COVID, mirroring national trends.

In many states, chronic absenteeism fell after the pandemic.

But in Louisiana, absenteeism rates continued to grow, spiking at 24.5% during the 2023 to 2024 school year before dipping to 22.5% last year.

State education leaders and lawmakers have said they’re worried those numbers could hinder the state’s recent academic progress.

To push districts to tackle the problem, Freiberg’s bill suggested allocating money based on daily attendance numbers, which schools are now mandated by the state education department to regularly collect and submit. That’s a change from the current formula, which bases funding on head counts that are taken once in February and once in October.

Those in favor of linking attendance to funding said it would incentivize districts to do more to reduce absenteeism. But opponents warned that doing so could unfairly penalize public school systems that are already financially strapped.

During Wednesday’s meeting, several study group members shared their frustration over what they said was a lack of supports for high-need students, who are often the ones most at-risk of becoming chronically absent. Many noted that basing funding on attendance would reduce districts’ ability to afford resources that could help students.

“Kids come to us in survival mode. Some don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Robert Wells, principal of Bonnabel High School in Baton Rouge. “If the goal is to do better and support kids to produce better outcomes, to help them leave high school and be able to go out and do whatever it is that they want to do, we can’t cut funding.”

Freiberg told committee members this week that she understood the pushback and that they needed to find alternative methods to tackle absenteeism.

“I hope you’ll come back to me with legislation that I can carry in the spring that’s not just tied to the [Minimum Foundation Program],” she told them. 

Pros and cons

Beth Scioneaux, chief financial officer for the state education department, said in a presentation Wednesday that while basing funding on attendance can encourage districts to “hyper-focus” on chronically absent students to avoid losing money, it also comes with drawbacks.

Average daily attendance data doesn’t take into account students who miss school for reasons outside of their control, like prolonged illness, she said. She also noted that districts with higher numbers of economically disadvantaged students usually struggle the most with chronic absenteeism.

As a result, she said that attendance-based funding can make it even more difficult for school systems to address absenteeism’s root causes. Education experts widely say those often stem from problems outside of school.

If Louisiana were to make the switch, “there would have to be some kind of phase-in period,” Scioneaux added. “You can’t take millions and millions of dollars away and expect the same level of educational experiences to be delivered.”

To date, six states — California, Kentucky, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas — allocate money based on average daily attendance numbers. Some of those, including Mississippi and Texas, have made recent moves to explore other formulas.