States / California

Chronic absence in California

Where things stand, what state rules ask of each role, and what is changing. For school and district leaders.

School year 2024-25

19.4%

of students, transitional kindergarten through high school, were chronically absent³

Chronically absent means absent for 10 percent or more of the instructional days they were enrolled to attend.³

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)²

Five-year trend

California, year by year

California chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2018-19	12.0%
2021-22	30.0%
2022-23	24.9%
2023-24	20.4%
2024-25	19.4%

Dashed bars mark years the state did not publish a rate.

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2024-25, 19.4% of California students were chronically absent, down from a peak of 30.0% in 2021-22³.
That is 1,143,668 students, still 7 percentage points above the rate before the pandemic. The drop in 2024-25 was small, after falls of 5.1 points in 2022-23 and 4.5 points in 2023-24⁴.
Nearly half of schools still have high or extreme chronic absence (20% or more of students): 47% in 2024-25, down from 75% in 2021-22⁴.
High school students (grades 9-12) had the highest rate in 2024-25, at 24%, followed by transitional kindergarten and kindergarten at 23%⁵.
Gaps by group are wide. In 2024-25, 37.3% of foster youth, 34.9% of homeless youth, 31.6% of American Indian or Alaska Native students and 31.3% of African American students were chronically absent, compared with 15.1% of White and 8.1% of Asian students⁶.
Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, so California's 19.4% was below the national rate^2,3.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Schools must record and keep attendance in all schools and classes according to State Board of Education regulations⁷.
A student whose absence is excused under state law must be allowed to complete all missed assignments and tests that can reasonably be provided, and gets full credit for satisfactory work finished within a reasonable time⁸.
The teacher of the class the student missed decides which tests and assignments are reasonably equivalent to, but not necessarily identical to, the ones missed⁸.

Counselors

The first time a truancy report is issued for a minor classified as truant, the student and, as appropriate, the parent or guardian may be asked to meet with a school counselor or other school designee to discuss the root causes and develop a joint plan to improve attendance⁹.
The supervisor of attendance may refer a student to a school nurse, school counselor, school psychologist, school social worker or other pupil support staff for case management and counseling¹⁰.
Where a county school attendance review board is set up, it must include a representative of school guidance personnel¹¹.

Attendance team

A student subject to compulsory education who, without a valid excuse, is absent three full days in one school year, or is tardy or absent for more than 30 minutes of the school day on three occasions in one school year, or any combination of these, must be classified as a truant¹².
Each truant must be reported to the attendance supervisor or the district superintendent. A student already reported who is again absent without a valid excuse, or tardy, on one or more days must be reported again^12,13.
A student reported as truant three or more times in a school year is a habitual truant, but only if a district officer or employee has made a conscientious effort, after a truancy report was filed, to hold at least one conference with a parent or guardian and the student. A conscientious effort means at least one attempt to reach the parents by the most cost-effective method, which may include email or a phone call¹⁴.
A minor student who is a habitual truant, a chronic absentee (absent on 10 percent or more of the school days in the school year, counted against the days the student was enrolled and school was taught), or habitually insubordinate or disorderly at school may be referred to a school attendance review board, or to the probation department if it has elected to take these referrals^15,16.
Whoever makes the referral (the supervisor of attendance or another person the board designates) must give documentation of the school's interventions to the student, the parents and the board or probation department, and tell the student and parents in writing where the matter was referred and why; the notice must say they will be required to meet with the board or probation officer¹⁵.

Principals & districts

Each school district's governing board and each county superintendent of schools must appoint a supervisor of attendance, plus assistant supervisors as needed, and set their duties, including duties on compulsory education and truancy¹⁰.
When a student is first classified as truant, the school district must notify the parent or guardian by the most cost-effective method possible, which may include email or a phone call¹⁷.
The notice must say that the student is truant; that the parent must make the student attend; that alternative programs are available; that the parent may meet school staff about solutions; that mental health and support services may be available; that staff can meet with the family to plan attendance support; and that missing 10 percent of school for any reason can make it harder to learn to read by third grade¹⁷.
After a second truancy report in the same school year, the student may be given a written warning by a peace officer, and the school may assign the student to an afterschool or weekend study program in the same county. A student who does not complete that program moves to the third-report step⁹.
At a third truancy report in the same school year, the student must be classified as a habitual truant (subject to the conference rule listed under the attendance team) and may be referred to, and required to attend, an attendance review board or a truancy mediation program. If the district has no truancy mediation program, the student may be required to attend a comparable program the district's attendance supervisor accepts⁹.

Recent changes

What changed lately

Since July 1, 2025, the first truancy notice must tell parents that mental health and support services may be available and that school staff can meet with the family to plan attendance support¹⁷.
This came from SB 691, which rewrote much of the old notice language; the old notice warned that parents could be guilty of an infraction and prosecuted. The laws that allow prosecution of parents did not change¹⁸.
Since January 1, 2025, under SB 1138, an absence for military entrance processing is on the state's list of excused absences^18,8.
Beginning July 1, 2025, a local educational agency may run attendance recovery programs so students can make up lost instructional time and offset absences, including to reduce chronic absenteeism¹⁹.
These programs may run before or after school, on weekends or during breaks; agencies that run them must offer access throughout the year, at least once each term. Taking part may not be compulsory or punitive¹⁹.
A student can be credited with no more than the equivalent of 10 days of attendance in a school year through recovery, or the number of absences that year if lower¹⁹.
In August 2025, state education leaders pledged to cut chronic absenteeism in half; the State Superintendent said California is committed to a 50 percent cut by 2030, and released a California Attendance Guide^21,20.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Chronic absenteeism rates are one measure of pupil engagement, which is a state priority in every school district's local control and accountability plan²².
Each district's governing board must adopt that plan; it covers three years and must be updated on or before July 1 each year²².
The California School Dashboard reports how schools and districts are doing on chronic absenteeism in kindergarten through eighth grade, based on the current rate and the improvement, or lack of it, from the year before²³.
For the Dashboard, a student counts as chronically absent if absent on at least ten percent of the instructional days enrolled, enrolled for at least 31 instructional days, and present at least one day²³.
The state publishes chronic absenteeism rates each year in its end-of-year data release; the 2024-25 reports came out in November 2025³.

What’s working

Efforts with results

In Los Angeles Unified, district staff, volunteers and community partners make home visits and phone calls to the homes of students who missed over 10 days of school the year before²⁴.
The district's chronic absenteeism rate was 31.1% in 2023-24; the superintendent reported that it dropped to 29% the following school year²⁴.

Working on chronic absence in California?

Agenteach helps counselors, teachers, and attendance teams follow up with students who are missing school, and keeps a record of every step.

Book time Become a pilot school

Sources

American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025, Table A3. State-Reported Chronic Absenteeism Data, by State, School Years 2017-25 (columns 2017 to 2025 by spring year; the last value is 2025 = the 2024-25 school year; rates rounded to whole percent) (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
American Enterprise Institute. From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
California Department of Education. 2024–25 End-of-Year Reports (Data Communications) (opens in a new tab) (2025-11)
Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). Unpacking California's Chronic Absence Crisis through 2024–25 (opens in a new tab) (2026)
Public Policy Institute of California. Chronic Absenteeism in California (opens in a new tab) (2026)
California Department of Education. 2024–25 End-of-Year Results Information and Fact Sheet (Statewide At-a-Glance flyer) (opens in a new tab) (2025-11)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 46000 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48205 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48264.5 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48240 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48321 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48260 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48261 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48262 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48263 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 60901 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 48260.5 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Association of California School Administrators. Attending to Student Absences: New Laws Address Valid Excuses and Truancy Notifications (opens in a new tab) (2024)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 46211 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
California School Boards Association (blog). California education leaders vow to decrease chronic absenteeism (opens in a new tab) (2025-08-27)
Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), newsroom (Mercury News coverage). California Leaders Pledge to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in Half (opens in a new tab) (2025-08-20)
California Education Code (via California.Public.Law; official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). California Education Code section 52060 (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Upper Lake Unified School District (district explainer of the state Dashboard rules). Definition of Chronic Absenteeism Indicator for the California School Dashboard (opens in a new tab) (undated)
Spectrum News (Los Angeles). LAUSD home visits and phone calls aimed at reducing absences (opens in a new tab) (2025-08-05)