Student attendance has become a key focus in Louisiana’s education system, with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), and the state Legislature working to address rising truancy and chronic absenteeism. BESE Vice President Stacey Melerine says in the 2023-24 school year, the truancy rate reached 41-percent, and students were absent an average of 11 days.
“Since you can’t educate a child that’s not in school, BESE has decided to do what’s best to try to get this in order and get our kids back in the classroom where they can learn and grow as students.”
The LDOE’s Success Through Attendance Recovery (STAR) Task Force, a multi-agency group, studied the issue and provided recommendations to BESE in December 2024. Melerine says the Task Force will address chronic absenteeism.
“And those are just the kids that are not coming day-to-day, but not quite truant, pursuant to the statute.”
Melerine noted that while schools implement interventions, inconsistencies in data collection hinder statewide progress. The STAR Task Force’s 2024 report proposes several solutions, including requiring schools to monitor attendance data, creating a discretionary referral process for truancy cases, and formally defining chronic absenteeism
“We are working with the Governor’s office and other stakeholders to come together and have a summit on these issues so we can better understand what’s causing our kids to be absent or truant and how we can address those in partnership with the courts and the Governor’s office.”
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