States / Michigan

Chronic absence in Michigan

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

School year 2025-26

27.2%

of students were chronically absent³

Chronically absent means miss 10% or more of a school year (18 days or more in a typical 180-day calendar).³

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)²

Five-year trend

Michigan, year by year

Michigan chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2018-19	19.7%
2021-22	38.5%
2022-23	30.8%
2023-24	29.5%
2024-25	28%
2025-26	27.2%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2025-26, 27.2% of Michigan's K-12 students were chronically absent, down from 27.9% the year before³.
It was the fourth yearly drop since the rate peaked at 38.5% in 2021-22³.
The rate is still well above the 19.7% of 2018-19, before the pandemic⁴.
Gaps are wide: in 2024-25, nearly half of Black students were chronically absent, compared with 34% of Hispanic students, 34% of Native American students, 21% of white students and 20% of Asian American students⁴.
In 2025-26, about 38% of students from low-income homes were chronically absent, compared with 15% of other students³.
On AEI's national comparison, Michigan's 2024-25 rate was 29%, well above the US rate of 22.6% for 2024-25^1,2.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Teachers, along with school officers, superintendents and administrators, must give assistance and furnish information to help the attendance officer do the job (§ 380.1589)¹⁰.
When a teacher, superintendent, intermediate superintendent or other person notifies the attendance officer of a violation of the attendance law, the officer must investigate each case of nonattendance (§ 380.1586(1))⁶.
In a district that does not employ a superintendent, the teacher must give the intermediate superintendent of the pupil's home intermediate school district information on each nonresident pupil's nonattendance (§ 380.1586(3))⁶.

Counselors

Michigan's attendance law does not name school counselors. When the law calls a parent in to discuss a child's attendance, the meeting is with "the proper school authorities" (§ 380.1586(2))⁶.
A law firm's summary of August 2025 state special education guidance notes that chronic absence may be a reason to suspect a disability. Federal child find rules require districts to identify and evaluate students suspected of having a disability¹⁶.
The same summary says that if a student with an IEP is chronically absent, the IEP team should examine whether the absences are related to the student's disability¹⁶.

Attendance team

The attendance officer must investigate each case of nonattendance when notified by a teacher, superintendent, intermediate superintendent or other person; if the child is not exempt under § 380.1561, the officer must proceed immediately (§ 380.1586(1))⁶.
If a child is repeatedly absent without valid excuse, is failing schoolwork or shows behavior problems, and attempts to confer with the parent fail, the superintendent (or the intermediate superintendent where a district has no superintendent) may ask the attendance officer to send the parent a registered-mail notice to come in at a set time and place to discuss it with the proper school authorities (§ 380.1586(2))⁶.
If a parent fails to send a child to school, the attendance officer, on notice from the proper authority, must give the parent written notice in person or by registered mail requiring the child to appear at school on the next regular school day after the notice is received and to keep attending regularly. The superintendent must tell the officer if the parent does not comply (§ 380.1587)⁷.
After that formal notice, the officer must determine whether the parent complied. If not, the officer must file a complaint against the parent with the court that has jurisdiction in the county of residence, and the court must issue a warrant (§ 380.1588)⁸.
A parent who fails to comply with the attendance law is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $5.00 or more than $50.00, up to 90 days in jail, or both (§ 380.1599)⁹.

Principals & districts

For today's students (those who turn age 11 on or after December 1, 2009, or entered grade 6 in 2009 or later), parents must send the child to public school for the entire school year from age 6 to the child's eighteenth birthday (§ 380.1561(1))⁵.
Attendance must be continuous and consecutive for the school year the district sets. The law lists exceptions, such as a state approved nonpublic school or an organized home education program, and it does not apply to a child at least age 16 whose parent has given officials of the school district where the child lives written notice that the child has permission to stop attending (§ 380.1561)⁵.
Each intermediate school board must select 1 or more attendance officers. A district with a pupil membership of 1,000 or more may employ its own; otherwise the intermediate district's officer serves the district. Officers have the powers of a deputy sheriff while on duty (§ 380.1571)¹¹.
Under the State School Aid Act, if fewer than 75% of a district's members attend on any day of instruction, the state pays only the share of that day's aid (1/180 of the year) that the actual attendance bears to 75%. This rule does not apply to a qualifying cyber school that complies with section 553a of the school code (since July 1, 2021, the state may not require such a cyber school to track pupils' participation through attendance in order to apply this exclusion), or to eligible pupils in a dropout recovery program that meets section 23a (§ 388.1701(3)(d), (11), (12))^12,14,18.
The 75% rule has exceptions. If closures from conditions not within the control of school authorities would otherwise leave a district short of the required minimum number of days, even after the law counts the first 6 such days lost (and up to 3 additional days for unusual and extenuating occurrences, with the state superintendent's approval), days the district adds to the end of its calendar to meet the minimum are not held to the 75% rule. They use a 60% bar instead, and the district must report attendance for those days (§ 388.1701(3)(e), (4))¹².

Recent changes

What changed lately

As of September 2026, Michigan had not passed new laws or rules on attendance in recent years³.
In August 2025, the state education agency's Office of Special Education released guidance on attendance support for students with disabilities, including the link between chronic absence and the duty to find and evaluate students with disabilities¹⁶.
A state education department report issued in July, covered in September 2026 reporting, lists student boredom, economic instability and health issues among the root causes of absence and says schools can remove barriers with transportation help, gas cards or ride-sharing networks³.
In December 2025, the state reported that 142 districts and charter schools were initially identified as facing fines under the 75% daily attendance rule for the prior school year; Detroit's district was set to lose $2.2 million after falling below the bar on 11 days¹⁴.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Michigan's School Index is the state's school accountability system under the Every Student Succeeds Act¹⁵.
Chronic absence counts in the index as "K-12 On Track Attendance," one of the School Quality/Student Success measures¹⁵.
The full weight list: 34% growth, 29% proficiency, 14% School Quality/Student Success, 10% graduation rate, 10% English learner progress, 2% general assessment participation and 1% English learner assessment participation. If a component is missing for a school, its weight is shared out proportionally among the remaining components¹⁵.
The index scores schools from 0-100 based on how well they met targets, and it identifies low-performing schools for Comprehensive, Targeted and Additional Targeted Support¹⁵.
Chronic absence counts every absence, excused or unexcused³.
In school funding, a chronically absent pupil, as defined by and reported to the state's data center, counts as an at-risk pupil (§ 388.1631a)¹³.
The 75% daily attendance funding rule is separate: the state education agency says chronic absence is calculated for federal and accountability reporting and monitored through separate data systems¹⁴.

What’s working

Efforts with results

Detroit's district, which uses attendance agents who monitor attendance and visit the homes of chronically absent students, cut its rate to 60.9% in 2024-25, 1.2 percentage points below 2018-19^3,4.
Detroit's rate fell again to 60% in 2025-26, well below its 76.7% in 2021-22³.
In northeast Michigan, the School Success Partnership places liaisons in schools to link schools, families and community services in 12 counties¹⁷.
Of 20 elementary schools with a liaison in the building, 16 had chronic absence rates below the state K-5 average of 24.7% in 2024-25, a Bridge Michigan analysis found¹⁷.
At one of those schools, the rate went from 20.6% in 2023-24 to 12.8% the following year, after a liaison was placed there¹⁷.
As of June 2026, almost half the program's funding, a $1.5 million state allocation, was absent from the proposed 2026-27 state budgets¹⁷.

Working on chronic absence in Michigan?

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Sources

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)
American Enterprise Institute. From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
Chalkbeat Detroit (story by Bridge Michigan). Fewer Michigan students were chronically absent from school in 2025-26 (published as: Michigan chronic absenteeism falls again, but more than 1 in 4 students miss too much school) (opens in a new tab) (2026-09-17)
Chalkbeat Detroit. Michigan's chronic absenteeism rate drops but is still above pre-pandemic levels (opens in a new tab) (2025-09-17)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1561 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1586 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1587 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1588 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1599 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1589 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (Revised School Code), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 380.1571 (Revised School Code; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (State School Aid Act), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 388.1701 (State School Aid Act; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Michigan Legislature (State School Aid Act), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 388.1631a (State School Aid Act; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)
Chalkbeat Detroit. Detroit district stands to lose $2.2 million in state funding for low daily attendance last year (opens in a new tab) (2025-12-19)
MI School Data (Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information). MI School Data: School Index (About this Report) (opens in a new tab) (accessed 2026-10-13)
Miller Johnson (law firm client alert summarizing state guidance). New MDE Guidance: Students with Attendance Issues and Child Find Obligations (opens in a new tab) (2025-09-02)
WTOP News (Associated Press, story by Bridge Michigan). Northern Michigan found a way to cut school absenteeism. Lansing may defund it (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-16)
Michigan Legislature (State School Aid Act), via FindLaw. Michigan Compiled Laws § 388.1608c (State School Aid Act; FindLaw copy, current as of January 01, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01)