States / Montana

Chronic absence in Montana

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

Latest available: 2022-23

35%

of students were chronically absent¹

Chronically absent means missed 10% or more of school days.¹

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁴

Five-year trend

Montana, year by year

Montana chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2018-19	25%
2022-23	35%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

The newest statewide chronic absence figure from state data shown here is for 2022-23: 35% of Montana students missed 10% or more of school days, according to legislative staff citing state education agency data¹.
That was up from 25% in 2018-19¹.
The share of students with exemplary attendance (95% of school days or better) on the state's report card fell from 60% in 2019-20 to 30% in 2021-22¹.
The state's 2022-23 report card also showed two-thirds of students missed more than 10 days of school, down slightly from 2022 but sharply higher than 2021².
Reporting on the state's latest report card, a TV station said state data shows chronic absenteeism is getting worse; the state superintendent said the agency is "definitely focusing on attendance"³.
Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25. Montana's newest figure shown here is from an earlier year, 2022-23, so the figures are not from the same year^4,1.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

A teacher under contract with a district must keep a teacher's register of attendance and grades⁵.
Within 10 days after the end of each semester, the teacher must prepare a report that includes the pupil attendance and absence data from the register. It goes to the district superintendent; if there is none, to the principal; if there is neither, to the county superintendent (or all county superintendents, for a joint district)⁵.
Trustees may not pay a teacher's last month's salary until the teacher has provided a complete and accurate semester report to the required person⁵.

Counselors

If a child is found truant after the attendance officer has made a reasonable effort to notify the parent, the officer may require the parent and child to meet with a person the school district designates, to formulate a truancy plan to address and resolve the truancy⁶.
If the parent fails to meet with that person or fails to uphold the responsibilities under the truancy plan, the attendance officer may refer the matter to the prosecuting attorney for a determination on whether to prosecute the parent⁶.

Attendance team

Each district must have at least one person serving as an attendance officer. First-class districts, and second-class districts with a dropout rate higher than the statewide average, must appoint one or more staff as attendance officers; other second-class districts and third-class districts may appoint one. Where a second-class or third-class district does not appoint one, the county superintendent must be the attendance officer⁷.
Truancy means persistent nonattendance without excuse, as defined by district policy, for all or any part of a school day equivalent to the length of one class period, by a child required to attend school under the compulsory attendance law⁶.
If the attendance officer discovers a child is truant, the officer may make a reasonable effort to notify the parent that continued truancy may result in the parent's prosecution⁶.
If the officer finds a child truant on 9 or more days or 54 or more parts of a day in 1 school year, the child may be referred to youth court as habitually truant. After such a referral, the officer must inform the youth court of any later truancies⁶.
Subject to district policy, the attendance officer must be vested with police powers, the authority to serve warrants and the authority to enter places of employment of children, in order to enforce the compulsory attendance law. Subject to district policy, the officer may take into custody any child subject to compulsory attendance who is not excused under the law, and bring the child to the school where the child is or should be enrolled; may start proceedings against a parent violating the compulsory attendance law; and may keep a record of transactions for the trustees, and shall make reports in the manner and to whomever the trustees designate⁸.
When the attendance officer is satisfied that a pupil or a child subject to compulsory attendance cannot attend because the child does not have the physical capacity, or is absolutely required to work at home or elsewhere to support the child or the child's family, the officer must, in lieu of the truancy provisions, report the case to the authorities charged with relief of the poor, who must offer relief that will enable the child to attend⁹.

Principals & districts

Trustees must assign and admit a resident child who is otherwise qualified and is 5 years of age or older on or before September 10 of the enrollment year, but not yet 19¹⁰.
A parent must ensure that a child who is 7 or older before the first day of school attends the school where the child is enrolled for the school term and each school day the trustees set, until the later of the child's 16th birthday or completing 8th grade¹¹.
That duty does not apply when the child is absent because of illness, bereavement or another reason set by the trustees' policies, is suspended or expelled, is excused under the compulsory enrollment law, or is excused under other listed statutes¹¹.
The compulsory enrollment law lets a district judge excuse a child when attendance is not in the child's best interest, and lets the board of trustees excuse a child who has reached 16 when attendance is not in the best interest of the child and the school¹².
District policy defines what counts as an excuse for the purpose of truancy⁶.

Recent changes

What changed lately

In the 2023 session, a bill (SB 129) that would have required parents to get enrolled children to school at any age, such as 5, 6, 7 or 17, narrowly passed the Senate but was tabled in House Education. It was not enacted¹.
In its 2024 annual goals, the state education agency said it would work with educators, families and community partners to reduce and eliminate chronic absenteeism, and partner with the University of Montana to understand the factors that lead to absence¹⁴.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Montana's ESSA plan (October 2024 version) counts satisfactory attendance, defined as missing 5 percent or less of the school year, in elementary, middle and high schools¹³.
It is part of the plan's fifth indicator, with science proficiency, college and career readiness and program quality¹³.
In the plan's indicator table, satisfactory attendance is worth 20 points for K-8 schools and 15 points for high schools¹³.
The state uses these indicators to sort schools into levels of support: Comprehensive, Targeted and Universal¹³.
The state report card also reports the share of students with exemplary attendance, 95% of school days or better¹.

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Sources

Montana Legislative Services Division (Education Interim Committee staff). SB 129 and Chronic Absenteeism, staff memo to the Education Interim Committee (cites OPI data) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-05)
Montana Public Radio. Less than half of Montana students are proficient in math, reading and science, state report card says (image caption: Montana Office of Public Instruction 2022-23 Every Student Succeeds Act State Report Card) (opens in a new tab) (2024-04-06)
KBZK (Bozeman), reporting the state report card. Montana OPI releases new school report card data, highlights literacy concerns and improvement efforts (opens in a new tab) (2026-09-01)
American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-4-301, Duties of teacher -- nonpayment for failure to comply (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-106, Truancy (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-104, Attendance officer (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-105, Attendance officer -- powers and duties (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-107, Incapacitated and indigent child attendance (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-101, Admittance of child to school (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-103, Compulsory attendance and excuses (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Legislature, Montana Code Annotated 2025. Mont. Code Ann. § 20-5-102, Compulsory enrollment and excuses (MCA 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Montana Office of Public Instruction. Montana ESSA Plan, 10.1.2024 Final Version (Table F and indicator descriptions) (opens in a new tab) (2024-10-01)
Montana Office of Public Instruction. 2024 OPI Annual Goals (presented to the 2024 interim) (opens in a new tab) (2024-08-30)