States / Wyoming

Chronic absence in Wyoming

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 absent²

Chronically absent means absent 10 percent or more of school days during the school year.³

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁴

Five-year trend

Wyoming, year by year

Wyoming chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2017-18	not published
2018-19	not published
2019-20	not published
2020-21	not published
2021-22	37%
2022-23	35%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2022-23, 34.1% of Wyoming public school students were chronically absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of school days. The figure comes from federal data the state reports¹.
That placed Wyoming at rank 42 among the states on this measure, where rank 1 has the lowest rate¹.
AEI's Table A2, which uses state-reported data and fills gaps with federal EdFacts data when state data are unavailable, shows Wyoming at 37% in 2021-22 and 35% in 2022-23².
Before the pandemic, in 2018-19, Wyoming districts reported 22,165 chronically absent students out of a fall enrollment of 93,029³.
Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25. Wyoming's newest statewide figure found for this page is from 2022-23, so the years do not match^4,1.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

State law has the district attendance officer, subject to the school board's rules and policies, counsel with teachers as well as students and families, and investigate the causes of unexcused absences, habitual truancy and willful absenteeism⁵.
An absence the district preapproved, or one due to the student's illness, injury or health care needs, or a death or serious illness in the student's family, is not an unexcused absence. A district may still ask for verification of the reasons for an absence⁵.

Counselors

A parent, guardian or other person in charge of a child under 18 who has not told the district the child is enrolling in another district, a private school or a home-based program must meet in person with a school district counselor or administrator and give written consent to the child's withdrawal⁵.
That written consent must include a separate provision allowing release of the student's identity and address to the Wyoming National Guard youth challenge program, only for recruitment into that program⁵.

Attendance team

Subject to the school board's rules and policies, the attendance officer must counsel with students, parents and teachers and investigate the causes of unexcused absences, habitual truancy and willful absenteeism⁵.
The attendance officer must give written notice to the parent, guardian or custodian of any child with an unexcused absence that the child's attendance at school is required by law⁵.
If, after that notice, the child's unexcused absences continue in violation of state law or local board rules, and the officer reasonably believes they were due to neglect, willful absenteeism or habitual truancy, the officer must take the district attorney notice step below. Under the child protection law, neglect in education includes willful absenteeism: a parent's willful failure to require regular attendance, beyond the local board's limit on unexcused absences^5,6.
When the attendance officer determines that a child is a habitual truant or has been absent due to willful absenteeism, the officer must notify the school board and the district attorney, who may start proceedings under the Child Protection Act or the Children In Need of Supervision Act, as appropriate⁵.
For an Indian child, the district attorney must notify the child's tribe and others entitled to notice under the Wyoming Indian Child Welfare Act. If the child lives on the Wind River Indian Reservation, the attendance officer must notify the Wind River Tribal Court prosecutor⁵.

Principals & districts

Enforcing the compulsory attendance law is primarily the school board's responsibility, and the board must appoint one or more attendance officers⁵.
Each school board must define "unexcused absence", "habitual truant" and "willful absenteeism" for its public school students and set attendance rules. State law defines a habitual truant as a child who disobeys reasonable and lawful demands of a parent, guardian, custodian or other proper authority to attend school when attendance is required, as further defined in local board rules⁵.
The person in charge of each school must promptly notify the district attendance officer in writing of all cases of unexcused absence⁵.
At the start of each school year, the board must give each attendance officer a list of the children of compulsory school age in the district⁵.
Absences for programs or competitions of nationally recognized youth agricultural education groups, or for showing as an exhibitor at the annual state fair or related events, count as district cocurricular activity, and the board must define them as excused⁵.

Recent changes

What changed lately

Since January 1, 2025, a child in the state's education savings account (ESA) program who gives the school district notice of taking part is deemed to meet the compulsory attendance requirement⁷.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Wyoming's 2024-25 school performance ratings drew on student growth, readiness, achievement, equity and English language proficiency, with achievement (the state test) weighted most heavily⁸.
For regular schools, state law lists those indicators: academic growth, achievement, post-secondary readiness, graduation rates, ninth grade credit accumulation, equity and English language proficiency. Attendance and chronic absence are not on the list⁵.
For alternative schools, the indicators also include measures of school quality, including climate, and measures of engagement, including implementation of student success plans⁵.
A 2021 state memo said districts submit chronic absence counts each year, students absent 10 percent or more of school days, for federal EDFacts reporting. It was the only absence data the state collected³.

Working on chronic absence in Wyoming?

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

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Sources

America's Health Rankings (United Health Foundation), reporting U.S. Department of Education EDFacts data submitted by the state. Chronic School Absenteeism in Wyoming (value based on data from the 2022-2023 School Year) (opens in a new tab) (2026)
American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? (PDF), Table A2. Complete Chronic Absenteeism Data by State, School Years 2017-25 (Continued), printed p.23; state-reported, district-level data backfilled with EdFacts data when state data are unavailable (Wyoming has no row in AEI's state-reported Table A3). Wyoming row, columns 2017 to 2025 in order (2022 = 37%, 2023 = 35%; spring years) (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
Wyoming Department of Education. Memo to the Joint Education Committee: Absenteeism and Truancy, September 8, 2021 (opens in a new tab) (2021-09-08)
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)
Wyoming Legislature. Wyoming Statutes Title 21 (Education), compressed statute text, W.S. 21-4-104(a) (opens in a new tab) (2026)
Wyoming Legislature. Wyoming Statutes Title 14 (Children), W.S. 14-3-202(a)(vii) (opens in a new tab) (2026)
Wyoming Legislature. 2024 Budget Session, Enrolled Act No. 53 (HB0166), Section 2, creating W.S. 21-4-102(d) (opens in a new tab) (2024)
Wyoming Department of Education. Wyoming's Traditional and Alternative Schools See Upward Trends In Performance Ratings (opens in a new tab) (2025-08-28)