States / Georgia

Chronic absence in Georgia

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

School year 2025-26

17.7%

of students were chronically absent¹

Chronically absent means absent 10% or more of the days they were enrolled.²

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁷

Five-year trend

Georgia, year by year

Georgia chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2020-21	20.1%
2021-22	23.9%
2023-24	21.3%
2024-25	19.5%
2025-26	17.7%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2025-26, 17.7% of Georgia students were chronically absent, a drop of nearly two percentage points from the year before¹.
That is down from 23.9% in 2021-22⁵.
The rate is still more than 5 percentage points above the two years before the pandemic³.
In 2023-24, more than 370,000 Georgia students missed at least 10% of the school year⁵.
In the newest release, the state reported 13.5% of students in kindergarten through fifth grade as chronically absent⁶.
Georgia does better than the nation: its 2024-25 rate was 19.5%, while the US rate was 22.6% in 2024-25^3,7.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Students must be credited as present, not absent, when they attend court proceedings related to their foster care or take part in a 4-H activity or program¹¹.
Since July 1, 2025, students taking tests and physical exams for military service or the National Guard must also be credited as present⁸.
Final course grades must not be penalized for absences that are justified and validated for excusable reasons, as long as make-up work for those excused absences was completed satisfactorily¹¹.
Districts are not required to provide make-up work for unexcused absences¹¹.
Teachers may serve on attendance review teams, along with school administrators, school counselors, school social workers, other school staff and the parents of the chronically absent students⁸.

Counselors

School counselors and school social workers may serve on attendance review teams⁸.
Each attendance review team must meet at least once a month, review the individual cases of chronically absent students and develop intervention plans for those students and their parents; a system team may work with school teams⁸.
A certificated school social worker from each public school system, if the system employs any, must serve on the county's student attendance and school climate committee¹¹.
An unemancipated minor older than the compulsory attendance age who has not completed a high school diploma or a state-approved high school equivalency (HSE) diploma may not withdraw without written permission from a parent or legal guardian; before accepting it, the principal or designee must hold a conference with the student and parent within two school days of receiving notice of the plan to withdraw⁸.

Attendance team

A student is truant after more than five unexcused absences in a school calendar year (out-of-school suspension days do not count as unexcused for truancy); when a student has five unexcused absences, the school system must notify the parent, and the notice must outline the penalty and consequences and that each later absence is a separate offense¹¹.
After two reasonable attempts to reach the parent about the five unexcused absences without response, the school system must send a notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by first-class mail; before any court action to penalize a parent, it must send a notice by certified mail, return receipt requested⁸.
A parent who violates the compulsory attendance law is guilty of a misdemeanor and, if convicted, faces a fine of $25.00 to $100.00, imprisonment of up to 30 days, community service, or any combination, at the court's discretion; each day's absence after the school system notifies the parent of five unexcused absences is a separate offense⁸.
Districts must use a progressive discipline process and a parental involvement process for truant students before referring them to court; in public schools, visiting teachers and attendance officers have the authority and duty to file court proceedings to enforce the attendance law^11,8.

Principals & districts

A school system whose chronic absenteeism rate in the previous school year was 10 percent or higher must set up a system attendance review team, and each school with a rate of 15 percent or higher must have its own team⁸.
Every school system must have policies to identify and support students who are chronically absent or at risk of it, including attendance review teams and intervention plans for those students and their parents; no student may be expelled solely for absences⁸.
Public schools must give parents a written summary of the consequences and penalties for not complying with compulsory attendance; parents must sign for it by September 1 or within 30 school days of enrollment, and so must students age ten or older by September 1; after two reasonable attempts, mailing a copy by certified or first-class mail counts as compliance, and schools must keep signed copies through the end of the school year^8,11.
Local boards must excuse absences, at a minimum, for personal illness, a serious illness or death in the immediate family, court or government agency orders, religious holidays, conditions that make attendance impossible or hazardous, voting (not more than one day), and visits with a parent called to duty for, or on leave from, overseas deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting (up to five school days a year), among others; policies may require documentation¹¹.
Each school system must take part in its county's student attendance and school climate committee, consider and publicly announce its decisions on the committee's recommendations, and report annual attendance rates to the committee and the State Board of Education by September 1 after each school year¹¹.

Recent changes

What changed lately

July 1, 2025: SB 123 took effect; it was signed on April 28, 2025^8,9,10.
The law defines a chronically absent student as one whose absences, excused or unexcused, reach 10 percent or more of the school days enrolled at the same school or school system that year (not counting the first day of enrollment), and it bars expelling a student solely for absences⁸.
It requires attendance review teams in school systems with chronic absenteeism rates of 10 percent or more, and in schools at 15 percent or higher^14,8.
The chief judge of each county's superior court must ensure the county student attendance and school climate committee meets no later than November 1, 2025 and at least twice a year after that; each committee must adopt a written attendance protocol by June 1, 2026 that includes recommendations on tardiness and chronic absenteeism⁸.
Beginning in 2026, by November 1 of each even-numbered year, the state education department must send the chairs of the House and Senate education committees a county-by-county compliance report that includes student attendance rates, and post it on its public website⁸.
In 2026, a follow-up bill (SB 513) passed the Senate, but it lost its House vote on April 2, 2026, was sent back to committee and is listed as failed, so it did not become law; House opposition focused on provisions such as loss of driving privileges^3,4.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Student attendance is one of the Readiness indicators in Georgia's school accountability index, the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), at elementary, middle and high schools^12,13.
The indicator is the percent of students absent less than 10% of their enrolled days, for grades K-5, 6-8 and 9-12¹³.
The state publishes attendance by grade and student group on a public dashboard that uses the same raw data as the accountability index².
Each local board must report annual student attendance rates to its county committee and the State Board of Education by September 1 after each school year¹¹.
Georgia signed on to the 50% Challenge, under which states commit to cutting chronic absenteeism rates by half within five years¹.

What’s working

Efforts with results

Georgia was one of the first states to release its 2025-26 attendance data, and its rate fell nearly two points, the same size drop as the year before¹.
A state news service reports that some of this progress came after SB 123 required school districts with high rates to create attendance review teams that engage parents³.

Working on chronic absence in Georgia?

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

American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus), AEIdeas. Early Returns, and Good News, on Attendance in Georgia (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-30)
Georgia Department of Education, Georgia Insights. Attendance dashboard (definitions and data sources) (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
Capitol Beat News Service (via Rough Draft Atlanta). Student absenteeism a persistent problem, but Georgia is doing better than most states (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-03)
PRIA Technologies (policyrisk.com bill tracker). Georgia SB 513 "Every Day Counts Act", 2025-2026 Regular Session: actions timeline (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
Capitol Beat News Service. Georgia lawmakers to study chronic student absenteeism (opens in a new tab) (2025-05-27)
WSB-TV. Georgia student absenteeism continues to drop as state commits to 50% Challenge (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-03)
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)
Georgia General Assembly. Senate Bill 123 (2025), text as passed by the Senate (LC 49 2214); the House passed it without a substitute and it was signed as Act 16, amending O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-690.1, 20-2-690.2 and adding 20-2-690.3 and 20-2-692.4 (opens in a new tab) (2025-02-26)
Georgia Appleseed. Student Attendance and School Climate Committees: SB 123 (fact sheet) (opens in a new tab) (2025)
PRIA Technologies (policyrisk.com bill tracker). Georgia SB 123, 2025-2026 Regular Session: actions timeline (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
Georgia State Board of Education, via Cornell LII. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 160-5-1-.10 Student Attendance (last amended eff. Dec. 28, 2022) (opens in a new tab) (2022-12-28)
Georgia Department of Education, CCRPI public reports. Readiness (What is Readiness?) (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
Georgia Department of Education accountability summary, as posted by Richmond County Board of Education. CCRPI Annual Update: 2024 College and Career Ready Performance Index (handout for administrators) (opens in a new tab) (2024)
Office of the Governor of Georgia. Gov. Kemp Signs Bills Strengthening Education and School Safety (opens in a new tab) (2025-04-28)