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States / New Mexico

Chronic absence in New Mexico

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

School year 2024-25

33.1%

of students were chronically absent3

Chronically absent means absent for ten percent or more of classes or school days for any reason, whether excused or not, when enrolled for more than ten days; taking part in interscholastic extracurricular activities does not count as an absence.8

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)2

Five-year trend

New Mexico, year by year

0%10%20%30%40%50%17.9%2018-1929.8%2020-2140.7%2021-2239.2%2022-2329.8%2023-2433.1%2024-25U.S. rate 22.6% (2024-25)
New Mexico chronic absence by school year
School yearChronically absent
2018-1917.9%
2020-2129.8%
2021-2240.7%
2022-2339.2%
2023-2429.8%
2024-2533.1%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

  • In 2024-25, 33.1% of New Mexico students were chronically absent, according to Public Education Department data reported by the Legislative Education Study Committee3.
  • That was up from 29.8% in 2023-24. The rate had fallen from a peak of 40.7% in 2021-22, but it is still far above the 17.9% of 2018-19, before the pandemic4,3.
  • AEI's national compilation of state-reported data also puts New Mexico at 33% for 2024-251.
  • Gaps by group are wide. In 2022-23, when nearly 40 percent of students statewide were chronically absent, rates were higher for students experiencing housing insecurity (60.8 percent), Native American students (48.3 percent), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students (45.7 percent) and students with disabilities (44.2 percent)6.
  • English learners (43.1 percent) and economically disadvantaged students (42.5 percent) also had higher rates that year6.
  • Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, so New Mexico's 33.1% was well above the national rate2,3.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

  • Beginning on the first day of school, a classroom teacher or the teacher's adult designee is responsible for taking accurate attendance for every class and reporting absences to the attendance team9.
  • Each school's attendance policy must require that accurate class attendance be taken for every instructional class and school day11.
  • If the alleged cause of a student's absence from class is teacher-student incompatibility, the principal must consult with the student's teacher and initiate meetings with the teacher, the student and the parent10.
  • A student may be excused for parent- or doctor-authorized medical reasons, and the school must give the student time to make up the school work missed13.
  • With the parent's written consent and subject to the principal's approval, a student may be absent to take part in tribal obligations; the school must give the student time to make up the missed work13.

Counselors

  • Schools must provide interventions to students who are absent or chronically absent. These may include referrals to health care and social service providers, and finding and coordinating resources for students who need counseling, such as counseling, training and placement for employment; drug and alcohol abuse counseling; family crisis counseling; and mental health counseling9.
  • A student has a 'disruption in education' if the student changes schools or districts one or more times in a single school year because of homelessness (as defined in the federal McKinney-Vento Act and as determined by the school or district); adjudication as an abused or neglected child (as determined by the children, youth and families department), as part of a family in need of court-ordered services voluntary placement, or as a delinquent (only if the parent wishes to disclose it); or placement in a mental health treatment facility, a developmental disabilities habilitation program or treatment foster care16.
  • For a student who has had such a disruption at any time during high school, districts and schools must ensure timely assistance and advice from counselors to improve the student's college or career readiness16.

Attendance team

  • An attendance team is a group of school-based administrators, teachers, staff, other school personnel and community members who carry out the school's attendance improvement plan. Teams may be formed in whole or in part from existing groups, and districts must reserve time for school staff to work together as an attendance team8,12.
  • Individualized prevention (a student missing five percent or more but less than ten percent of classes or school days for any reason): for an elementary student, the team must talk to the parent; for a middle or high school student, the parent and the student. The talk covers the attendance history, the impact of absences on academic outcomes, available interventions or services, and the consequences of further absences, which may include referral to the children, youth and families department for excessive absenteeism8,10. Under the Act, "absent" means not in attendance for a class or school day for any reason, excused or not, but it does not apply to participation in interscholastic extracurricular activities, meaning activities sponsored by a public school or by an organization whose main purpose is regulating, directing, administering and supervising those activities in public schools8.
  • Early intervention (ten percent or more but less than twenty percent): the team must notify the parent in writing, by mail or personal service, of the student's absenteeism. The notice must give a date, time and place to meet with the school to develop intervention strategies that focus on keeping the student in an educational setting, and the team must be convened to set a specific intervention plan with weekly progress monitoring and a contract for attendance8,10.
  • Intensive support (twenty percent or more): the team must give the parent written notice with a date, time and place to meet with the principal and the attendance team; set nonpunitive consequences at the school level; identify specialized supports the student may need to address the underlying causes of excessive absenteeism; and tell the student and parent the consequences of further absences8,10.

Principals & districts

  • Each public school must keep an attendance policy that sets up an early warning system with evidence-based metrics to identify students at risk of chronic or excessive absenteeism, and uses an attendance improvement plan that focuses on, among other things, prohibiting out-of-school suspension or expulsion as the punishment for absences11.
  • The policy must limit a student's ability to withdraw to only after all intervention efforts by the school or the children, youth and families department to keep the student in an educational setting have been exhausted. For each chronically or excessively absent student, the school must document its attempts to notify a parent of absences, its attempts to improve attendance by talking with the student or parent to identify barriers to attendance, and the intervention strategies used to keep the student in an educational setting, including additional educational opportunities offered11.
  • Local school boards must review and approve school attendance policies. Schools must give a copy of the policy to all parents and post it on the school website, and must give a parent access to the child's attendance data, including intervention strategies used, within five days of the parent's written request11.
  • Since the 2020-21 school year, a school where five percent or more of students, or of one or more student subgroups, had a chronic absence rate in the prior school year must develop an attendance improvement plan as part of its educational plan for student success. Every school, whatever its rate, must develop and carry out a whole-school absence prevention strategy and report it to the department as part of that plan for student success9.
  • If unexcused absences continue after the written notice given at the intensive-support tier, the local school board (or the governing body of a charter or private school), after consulting the superintendent or head administrator, must report the excessively absent student (one who needs intensive support and has not responded to the school's interventions) to the probation services office of the judicial district where the student lives. That office investigates whether the student should be considered a neglected child or a child in a family in need of family services because of excessive absenteeism. The superintendent or head administrator must send the record of the school's interventions and the student's and parent's responses within ten business days of the student being identified as excessively absent14,8.

Recent changes

What changed lately

  • In 2025 the Legislature funded attendance initiatives through the public education reform fund: $18.6 million to be spent over three fiscal years, as part of a multi-year funding initiative set up by Laws 2025, Chapter 72 (Senate Bill 201)4.
  • That is $6.2 million each year from FY26 through FY28, up from the $5 million provided for attendance in FY25. Under Chapter 72, programs paid for from the fund must be evaluated for impact4.
  • Under the Public Education Department's August 2025 plan for this money, eligible local education agencies (LEAs) were those with enrollment of 10,000 or more, or with enrollment over 1,200 and a chronic absence rate of 45% or more as reported to the department; all 24 eligible LEAs applied and were selected5.
  • The plan's short-term goal is for the chronic absence rate in participating LEAs to decrease by 5% annually5.
  • Before this, the department made $2.5M in attendance grant awards for 2024-2517.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

  • New Mexico's school accountability system, New Mexico Vistas, publishes outcomes including chronic absenteeism rates, as part of how the Public Education Department complies with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act18.
  • The Legislative Finance Committee reported that New Mexico is one of 37 states that use chronic absenteeism to measure student success in their federal ESSA plans, citing a Georgetown University research group19.
  • For each reporting date and at the end of the year, districts must report to the department the days each student missed (excused and unexcused), the days each student was enrolled, each student's absence tier and demographics, and the number of students referred to the children, youth and families department for excessive absences15.
  • The department must compile a report by school and district with the number and percent of students in each tier or excessively absent, the average excused and unexcused absences per student for all students and subgroups (not including interscholastic extracurricular activities), and a chronic absenteeism rate for each district for all students and each subgroup15.
  • Districts must sort schools and student subgroups into no fewer than four categories by chronic absence rate, and set attendance improvement targets for schools or subgroups, and for the district, with chronic absence rates of ten percent or greater12.
  • Each district must report its attendance improvement plan to the department no later than forty-five days after the school year begins (the department may let it be part of the educational plan for student success). At the end of each year, it must report its progress to the local school board and on its website, including how far schools with chronic absence rates greater than ten percent met their targets12.

Working on chronic absence in New Mexico?

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Sources

Sources

  1. 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)
  2. American Enterprise Institute. From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
  3. New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC), reporting Public Education Department data. LESC Report to the 57th Legislature & Data Reference Guide, 1st Session, 2026, Academic Design section (LESC labels school years by spring year: SY25 = the 2024-25 school year) (opens in a new tab) (2026-01)
  4. New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC), reporting Public Education Department data. LESC 2025 Post-Session Review (School Attendance and Chronic Absenteeism; SY23 = the 2022-23 school year) (opens in a new tab) (2025-05-16)
  5. New Mexico Public Education Department (program plan published by the Legislative Finance Committee). PERF Plan: PED, Attendance, August 2025 (Attendance Improvement) (opens in a new tab) (2025-08-28)
  6. New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC staff presentation). Update and Next Steps for Chronic Absenteeism in New Mexico, June 26, 2024 (opens in a new tab) (2024-06-26)
  7. New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC policy brief). Engaging Schools, Higher Attendance: A Systemic Approach (September 2024) (opens in a new tab) (2024-09-18)
  8. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-2. Definitions (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  9. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-8. Enforcement; attendance improvement plan; procedures (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  10. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-11. Progressive interventions for absent, chronically absent and excessively absent students (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  11. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-6. Public school attendance policies; reporting (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  12. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-7. Enforcement; district responsibilities; differentiation; district plan; additional support (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  13. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-9. Medical appointments; illness; special situations; make-up work (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  14. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-12. Excessive absenteeism; enforcement (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  15. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-13. Reporting requirements (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  16. New Mexico Statutes (NMSA 1978), via FindLaw (text current as of January 1, 2024). NMSA 1978 § 22-12A-14. Timely graduation and support for students who experience disruption in the student's education (Attendance for Success Act) (opens in a new tab) (2024-01-01)
  17. New Mexico Public Education Department (presentation to the LESC). Attendance Improvement, presentation for the Legislative Education Study Committee, September 18, 2024 (opens in a new tab) (2024-09-18)
  18. New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC). LESC 2026 Post-Session Review (opens in a new tab) (2026)
  19. New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee (LFC). Student Attendance and Performance, LFC program evaluation (presented to the LESC June 26, 2024) (opens in a new tab) (2024-06-26)