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States / New Hampshire

Chronic absence in New Hampshire

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

Latest available: 2022-23

25%

of students were chronically absent1

Chronically absent means miss 10 percent or more of the school year.1

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)4

Five-year trend

New Hampshire, year by year

0%10%20%30%40%16%2017-1814%2018-1913%2019-2018%2020-2135%2021-2225%2022-23U.S. rate 22.6% (2024-25)
New Hampshire chronic absence by school year
School yearChronically absent
2017-1816%
2018-1914%
2019-2013%
2020-2118%
2021-2235%
2022-2325%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

  • In 2022-23, 25% of New Hampshire students were chronically absent, according to AEI's compilation of district-level data, which uses state-reported data and fills gaps with federal EDFacts data when state data are unavailable; 2022-23 is the newest New Hampshire year in that table1.
  • New Hampshire does not publish chronic absence data on its state website: in 2025, Attendance Works reported that "chronic absence data can be found on the websites of all states with the exception of New Hampshire"2.
  • That was down from 35% in 2021-22, but still well above the 14% reported in 2018-19, before the pandemic1.
  • Federal EDFacts data, as reported by America's Health Rankings, give a similar figure: 24.8% of New Hampshire public school students missed 10% or more of school days in 2022-23, which ranked the state 22nd3.
  • AEI's table shows no New Hampshire figure for 2023-24 or 2024-251.
  • Because New Hampshire's newest published figure is from 2022-23, it cannot be compared directly with the US rate of 22.6% in 2024-251,4.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

  • The person responsible for the attendance register must make the entries the state board of education requires and return the register to the school board at the close of the term14.
  • District attendance policies must not penalize students who miss class or a required school event because of a school scheduling conflict17.
  • Complete and accurate records of students' attendance must be permanently kept and safely stored in a fire-resistant file, vault, or safe17.
  • School district attendance records are presumed to be true and accurate unless evidence to the contrary is presented11.

Counselors

  • A student may be excused from full-time attendance with a superintendent's waiver, granted only on proof that the student is 16 or older and has an alternative learning plan for earning a high school diploma or its equivalent5.
  • That plan must be developed, and amended if necessary, in consultation with the student, a school guidance counselor, the principal and at least one parent or guardian, then submitted to the superintendent for approval; if the superintendent does not approve it, the parent or guardian may appeal to the local school board, and then to the state board of education5.
  • At least biennially, the local school board must approve a school counseling program for each school, and it must include policies and procedures for referring students for additional assistance17.
  • Under the same counseling-program rule, the superintendent or designee must give the local school board a summary report on student achievement, attendance and behavior at least once a year17.

Attendance team

  • Truancy means an unexcused absence from school or class, meaning one not excused under the school board's policy; ten half days of unexcused absence in a school year is habitual truancy, and each district must define a "half day of absence"; districts may also adopt bylaws on habitual truants, and each failure to comply with them is a violation11,8.
  • The board's truancy policy must designate an employee in each school as the person responsible for truancy issues, include early parental involvement in the intervention process, and consider whether the school's record keeping and its notices to parents about absences affect the child's attendance9.
  • When directed by the school board, truant officers enforce the truancy and attendance laws and have authority, without a warrant, to take children found violating the compulsory attendance laws and place them in school; home school pupils and children who meet certain exemptions in the attendance law are not deemed truant12.
  • A truant officer or school official may petition the court that a child is in need of services because the child is habitually, willfully and without good and sufficient cause truant, but not until all steps in the district's intervention process have been followed16,15,12.
  • Any petition must show whether appropriate voluntary services were attempted and why court compulsion is necessary; a school official's petition must also show that the district tried available educational approaches and tried to engage the parents, who were unwilling or unable to help, that the problem remains and that court intervention is needed, except that for a child with a disability it must instead show that the district has determined the child has a disability and has reviewed the child's IEP and placement and made modifications where appropriate16.

Principals & districts

  • School boards must appoint truant officers, who serve one year and until successors are appointed and may be removed by the board at any time for cause; the state board may require additional truant officers9,10,13.
  • Each school board's truancy policy must define "excused absence", set a process for considering exceptions to absences not otherwise excused, and set an intervention process to address individual cases of truancy as quickly as possible and reduce the number of habitual truants; the board must provide for parents to take part in developing the policy9.
  • The local school board must adopt and implement written absenteeism and attendance policies and procedures, available on each school's website, that include procedures for the accountability and supervision of students and a cooperative approach that clearly explains the parents' responsibilities for notification when a student is tardy, absent or dismissed, as well as the school's responsibility17.
  • A superintendent may excuse a child who is physically or mentally unable to attend, or temporarily excuse a child at the parent's request for purposes the school authorities and parent agree on, but such excused absences are not permitted if they cause a serious adverse effect on the student's educational progress5.
  • Parents must have children at least 6 and under 18 attend school full time when it is in session, unless an exception listed in the law applies (a child who turns six after September 30 need not attend until the following school year); the school board must send a copy of the compulsory attendance law to every person it has reason to believe does not comply, and anyone who does not comply is guilty of a violation, with fines going to the district5,7,6.

Recent changes

What changed lately

  • Effective 12-13-24, the state board of education adopted, readopted with amendment, or repealed all of the rules in its minimum standards for public school approval, extensively amending and renumbering them17.
  • The current version, effective 12-13-24, requires each local school board to adopt written absenteeism and attendance policies and procedures and make them available on each school's website17.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

  • Every year, each school district must report data to the state department of education at the school and district levels, and attendance rates are one of the required indicators18.
  • The department must publish an annual public report, the "New Hampshire School District Profiles", on the condition of education statewide and for each district and school, with comparisons to state averages for all data reported18.
  • Each charter school's annual report must include, at a minimum, the attendance rate of pupils enrolled at the school as reflected in its average daily membership17.
  • The state does not publish chronic absence data on its website: in 2025, Attendance Works reported that "chronic absence data can be found on the websites of all states with the exception of New Hampshire"2.

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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 A2. Complete Chronic Absenteeism Data by State, School Years 2017-25 (state-reported, district-level data, backfilled with EDFacts data when state data are unavailable; columns 2017 to 2025 by spring year; New Hampshire's values run 2018 = 2017-18, 2019 = 2018-19, 2020 = 2019-20, 2021 = 2020-21, 2022 = 2021-22 and 2023 = 2022-23; its 2024 and 2025 cells are blank; rates rounded to whole percent) (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
  2. Attendance Works. More Essential Than Ever: States Taking Action to Improve Attendance (press release on the 2025 state policy report) (opens in a new tab) (2025-06-03)
  3. America's Health Rankings (United Health Foundation), reporting U.S. Department of Education EDFacts data. Explore Chronic School Absenteeism in New Hampshire (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  4. 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)
  5. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 193:1, Duty of Parent; Compulsory Attendance by Pupil (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  6. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 193:7, Penalty (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  7. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 193:8, Notice of Requirements (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  8. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 193:16, Bylaws as to Nonattendance (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  9. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 189:34, Truant Officers: Appointment (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  10. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 189:35, Truant Officers: Term; Removal (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  11. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 189:35-a, Truancy Defined (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  12. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 189:36, Truant Officers: Duties (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  13. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 189:37, Additional Officers (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  14. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 189:42, Registers (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  15. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 169-D:2, Children in Need of Services: Definitions (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  16. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 169-D:5, Children in Need of Services: Petition (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  17. New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules (via New Hampshire General Court). Ed 306.04, Policy Development (Part Ed 306, Minimum Standards for Public School Approval) (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))
  18. New Hampshire General Court, Revised Statutes Annotated. RSA 193-E:3, Delivery of an Adequate Education (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-13 (accessed))