At its January 10, 2025 meeting, the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) approved a motion to work with the Louisiana Supreme Court (LASC) and Governor’s office to convene a statewide summit to address the issue of truancy and chronic absenteeism in Louisiana K-12 schools. The initiative will bring together educators, legal professionals, social workers, faith-based representatives, state and local officials and other community leaders, and will convene this year.
BESE welcomed LASC Chief Justice John Weimer to its January meetings for a discussion on the issue of excessive student absenteeism, and how the education and judicial communities can best collaborate to develop solutions and supports for families and school systems. The resulting conversation, informed by the input and recommendations of Chief Justice Weimer, Judge Blair Edwards of the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, Judge Gail Grover of the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Court, and other court officials led to the Board’s decision to develop the student attendance summit.
“There are reactive and proactive approaches to tackling the issue of student attendance, and this joint effort between education and the court system reflects both,” said BESE President Ronnie Morris. “Unfortunately in many cases crime is linked to truancy. This fact drastically increases the urgency of identifying and understanding the fundamental causes of excessive absenteeism. Working with the judicial system and stakeholders, we will seek to uncover causal factors, improve the accuracy of reporting, and investigate potential law and policy solutions. These actions will enable us to develop the appropriate supports to help children, families, and communities.”
“Judges throughout Louisiana have been dedicated to improving their communities for decades in ways that most people don’t even realize,” said Chief Justice Weimer. The Louisiana Supreme Court has managed the Families In Need of Services Assistance Program (FINS-AP) for decades, and the Court Appointed Special Advocates Assistance Program (CASA AP) for decades, and the Judges in the Classroom program has reached out to students throughout the state. If we do not improve children’s school attendance, unfortunately, we will have to address in our court system problems caused by truancy. We would prefer not to do that but instead support collaborative efforts to address root causes.”
The collaboration is the latest example of the continuing partnership between BESE and the state’s highest court to strengthen student engagement and assist families in meeting difficult challenges. In 2021, BESE’s then-President Sandy Holloway and Chief Justice Weimer led an expansion of the Louisiana Center for Law and Civics Education’s Judges in the Classroom program to promote awareness and understanding of the legal justice system among the student population. The initiative has brought a positive interaction with the judicial system to the classroom, helping students focus on and achieve successful outcomes.
Student attendance issues have recently been at the forefront of the education conversation in Louisiana, with BESE, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), and the state Legislature taking actions to quantify and curb truancy and chronic absenteeism. For the 2023-24 school year, the statewide truancy rate stood at 41.8 percent, with an average student number of days absent at 11.6.
LDOE’s Success Through Attendance Recovery (STAR) Task Force, comprised of representatives of multiple state agencies and stakeholders, has been working to examine data and identify the underlying causes of truancy. The group was active throughout 2024 and delivered recommendations to BESE at its December 2024 meeting. The complete 2024 STAR Task Force Report is available here.
“Consistent, accurate data is paramount to identifying and addressing the root causes of truancy and chronic absenteeism,” said BESE District 2 Member Dr. Sharon Clark, chair of the STAR Task Force. “While Louisiana school systems have been engaging in intervention and prevention measures, some data currently being collected from parish to parish is inconsistent and neither qualitative nor quantitative. We must prioritize a framework for tracking and assessing truancy that is consistent across school systems. Then we will be productive in developing effective statewide solutions.”
The 2024 report of the STAR Task Force includes a number of recommended actions for policymakers and legislators that will be part of the ongoing conversation regarding student attendance:
- Require schools to utilize an existing team to monitor and analyze attendance data.
- Keep definition of truancy in statute but create a discretionary referral process to most efficiently utilize the resources of the justice system.
- Adopt a formal definition of chronic absenteeism as students who are enrolled for at least 10 days and are absent 10% or more of days enrolled; students are counted once at each level.
- Identify ways to make past attendance history available to the receiving school system.
- Create model program guidance on reducing truancy in conjunction with juvenile court judges.
- Limit number of days that can be excused by a parent note to five per year.
- Create a standardized paper and digital form for parent notes.
- Require and improve delivery of career exploration and extracurricular activities in elementary and middle schools.
BESE will issue updates on the development of the student attendance summit as content and planning is finalized. For additional information, contact Kevin Calbert at kevin.calbert@la.gov.
# # #
For more information, contact:
Kevin Calbert
kevin.calbert@la.gov