States / Nevada

Chronic absence in Nevada

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

School year 2024-25

26.6%

of students were chronically absent³

Chronically absent means absent for 10 percent or more of the school days for which he or she is enrolled.⁶

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)²

Nevada chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2018-19	19%
2020-21	31%
2021-22	36%
2022-23	34.9%
2023-24	29.3%
2024-25	26.6%

Nevada chronic absence by school year

School year

Chronically absent

2018-19

19%

2020-21

31%

2021-22

36%

2022-23

34.9%

2023-24

29.3%

2024-25

26.6%

The numbers

In the 2024-25 school year, 26.6% of Nevada students were chronically absent, down from 29.3% in 2023-24, the state reports³.
State releases differ on 2023-24: the release of 2023-24 results put that year at 25.9%, down from 34.9% in 2022-23, while the release of 2024-25 results compares with 29.3%^4,3.
In AEI's compilation of state-reported data, Nevada peaked at 36% in 2021-22 and stood at 19% in 2018-19, before the pandemic¹.
Nevada remains above the national picture: across reporting states, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, which AEI labels 2025².
In 2024-2025, about 27 percent of students in the Clark County School District, which enrolls more than two-thirds of the state's public school students, were chronically absent; Washoe County was slightly less than 26 percent and the state's public charter schools slightly more than 16 percent, per a Nevada Independent analysis⁵. Rates were significantly higher in high schools than in elementary or middle schools⁵.
In 2024-25, 511 schools (70 percent) lowered their chronic absenteeism rates, and 341 schools (47 percent) lowered their rates by at least 10 percent³.

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

A pupil who is required to enroll in and attend school under NRS 392.040, the compulsory-attendance law, is truant when absent from school without the written approval of the pupil's teacher or the principal, unless the pupil is physically or mentally unable to attend or is absent for a religious holiday⁷.
On a parent's request made during the absence or within the 3 days before or after it, a teacher or principal may give written approval for the absence if an emergency exists⁷.
Emergencies include, among others, a medical emergency in the family, compliance with a court order, a funeral or similar event of grieving, a family emergency, temporary homelessness and a religious observance; a teacher or principal may not approve such absences beyond 10 percent of the school days in the school year⁷.
For chronic absence reporting, a student is absent for a school day if not on school grounds or in instruction at an approved off-site location, and not in attendance for 50 percent or more of the scheduled minutes of instruction, excused or not⁶.

Counselors

If a student has been truant, the school must take reasonable actions designed, as applicable, to encourage, enable or convince the student to attend school⁷.
A referral to the county advisory board to review school attendance must list the dates the student was truant and all action the school took to help the student attend, and the school must give the parents written or electronic notice of the referral⁷.
If the advisory board finds that a habitual truant's status can be adequately addressed through programs and services in the community, it must order the student to take part; if the student agrees, the board, student and parents enter a written or electronic agreement⁷.
If the student does not agree to take part, the advisory board's chair must report the student to an attendance officer, a school police officer or local law enforcement for investigation and a citation if warranted, or refer the student for administrative sanctions⁷.

Attendance team

Any absence not approved under the law is unapproved, and for each one the teacher, attendance officer or other school official must deliver, or have delivered, a written or electronic notice of truancy to the parent, in a form the Department specifies⁷.
An unapproved absence of at least one period, or the equivalent of one period, in a school day may be deemed a truancy, and a child declared truant three or more times within one school year must be declared a habitual truant. Both rules apply to all pupils who are required to enroll in and attend school pursuant to NRS 392.040⁷.
All approved and unapproved absences must be counted in deciding whether a student is chronically absent⁷.
Each district board, and the governing body of each charter school and of the university school for profoundly gifted pupils, must communicate the truancy policy and the state's chronic absenteeism definition in a format and, to the extent practicable, a language parents understand, and notify parents when a student nears the 10 percent limit on approved absences⁷.

Principals & districts

When a student is a habitual truant, or is declared truant again in the same school year after becoming one, the principal must report the student to an attendance officer, a school police officer or local law enforcement for investigation and, if warranted, a citation to appear in juvenile court; refer the student to the advisory board if the parent has consented; or refer the student for administrative sanctions⁷.
Each district board must adopt criteria for choosing among those steps; before an advisory board referral, the principal must ask the parent to consent to releasing the student's records to the board, and if the parent refuses, must instead report the student to an attendance officer, school police or law enforcement, or refer the student for sanctions⁷.
Except as otherwise provided in NRS 389.320, each district board shall prescribe a minimum number of days that a pupil who is subject to compulsory enrollment and attendance must be in attendance to obtain credit or to be promoted to the next higher grade; a board may adopt a policy prescribing a minimum number of days for a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or first grade. Under NRS 389.320, a homeless pupil, unaccompanied pupil or pupil who lives in foster care may receive full or partial credit for a specific course of study from a public school without satisfying any attendance requirement for the course if the pupil completes the course work in compliance with procedures adopted by the board of trustees of a school district or the sponsor of a charter school. Before denying credit or promotion for attendance, the principal or designee must give the parent written notice that includes the right to request a review of the absences, and the decision may be appealed to the district board. Approved religious-holiday absences count toward the required days if the student has completed course-work requirements^7,8.
Each district board must set procedures to monitor attendance, chronic absenteeism and truancy, including a standard method for reporting them; coordinate referrals of truant students to community services; and decide, based on each school's attendance, chronic absenteeism and truancy, whether to employ an attendance clerk for a school or group of schools⁷.
Each school district must report to the Department every enrolled student who is chronically absent⁶.

What changed lately

Under Senate Bill 460 (2025), from July 1, 2026, when a public elementary school misses its yearly improvement goals in 3 consecutive school years, the district superintendent or charter sponsor must assess the principal, and the superintendent or the charter school's executive director may consider the school's chronic absenteeism rate in that assessment^11,9.
Assembly Bill 54 (2023), effective July 1, 2023, required the Department to define chronic absenteeism by regulation and barred teachers and principals from approving emergency absences beyond 10 percent of the school days in the school year^10,7.
The state's regulation defining a chronically absent student, and requiring districts to report each one, took effect 2/13/2023⁶.
The Department set a goal in 2024 of cutting chronic absenteeism by 50 percent over five years, and Nevada is one of 16 states plus Washington, D.C., in a national pledge to reduce it by 50 percent over five years^5,3.

How the state holds schools to it

Chronic absenteeism is one of the measures in Nevada's school star ratings, along with state test results in English language arts, mathematics and science, and graduation rate¹³.
Schools earn points on each measure, totaled into an index score from one to 100¹³.
In the framework as presented to legislators in May 2024, the chronic absenteeism measure was worth 10 points for elementary schools, 10 for middle schools and 5 for high schools¹².
That presentation's note on the measure says it counts only students enrolled in a school for 91 days or more of the school year, and counts absences for any reason, including excused, unexcused or disciplinary absences¹².
A student whose physical or mental condition or behavioral health prevents attendance must be excused when satisfactory written evidence is given to the district board, and that excusal must not negatively affect the school's rating⁷.
Each annual accountability report must include attendance and truancy information, including average daily attendance and the number of habitual truants for each school and the district, and must allow breakdowns by student group⁹.
The state is refreshing the school star-rating framework during the 2026-27 school year¹³.