States / Oregon

Chronic absence in Oregon

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

School year 2024-25

33.5%

of students were chronically absent¹

Chronically absent means not attending school for 10 percent or more than 10 percent of school days that the student is enrolled in a school year.⁸

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁵

Five-year trend

Oregon, year by year

Oregon chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2019-20	not published
2020-21	28%
2021-22	36%
2022-23	38%
2023-24	34.3%
2024-25	33.5%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2024-25, 33.5% of Oregon students, or 174,147 students, were chronically absent, according to state data reported by OPB and Axios^1,2.
The state reports the same data as regular attenders, students present for more than 90 percent of their enrolled days: 66.5% of students in 2024-25³.
The chronic absence rate peaked at 38% in 2022-2023 and was 34.3% in 2023-24; it is still far above the 20.4% of 2018-19, before the pandemic^1,4.
Gaps are wide: in 2024-25, 48.5 percent of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students and 82.8 percent of Asian students were regular attenders, and students experiencing houselessness were 22.9 percentage points below the all-student rate³.
Oregon is well above the national picture: across reporting states, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, which AEI labels 2025⁵.
Early state data for the 2025-2026 school year show 2,655 more students attending regularly than the year before⁶.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Under the compulsory attendance law, the principal or teacher must consider all unexcused absences; eight unexcused one-half day absences in any four-week period while school is in session count as irregular attendance⁹.
A principal or teacher may excuse an absence caused by the student's sickness, including mental or behavioral health, the sickness of a family member, or an emergency⁹.
They must excuse up to seven days of absences in a school year for a student who is a dependent of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces on or called into active duty, and may excuse other absences arranged in advance⁹.
A district board may let teachers weigh attendance in grades or credit, but attendance may not be the sole reason a grade is reduced⁹.
Before a grade is reduced or credit denied, the teacher must identify how attendance ties to the course's instructional goals and notify the student and parents or guardian; procedures must ensure due process, the reasons for the absences must be considered, and absences for religious reasons, a disability or an excused absence may not be used⁹.

Counselors

The formal nonattendance notice to parents must tell them they can request an evaluation to see whether the child should have an individualized education program, or a review of the child's existing one⁹.
The state rule for these notices extends that right to 504 plans, including a review to make sure the accommodations still fit the student's needs¹⁰.
The notice must be written in the home language of the student's parent or guardian¹⁰.

Attendance team

Each school must make sure a parent is notified by the end of the school day on any day the child has an unplanned absence⁹.
Notice must be given in person, directly by telephone, or by another method the parent named in writing; if the parent cannot be reached in person or by telephone and has named no other method, a message must be left if possible⁹.
If notice was not given in person or directly by telephone and the parent has not confirmed it within the policy's timeline, the absence must be reported to the attendance supervisor, who must then investigate the truancy or nonattendance⁹.
When a parent fails to send a child who is not exempt to school, the attendance supervisor must, within 24 hours of being notified, give formal written notice in person or by registered or certified mail⁹.
The notice must say the child must come to school the next school day and keep attending regularly for the rest of the school year; if the parent does not comply, the supervisor must notify the district superintendent within three days of learning of it or being told of it⁹.

Principals & districts

Each district school board must adopt an attendance notification policy that every school in the district carries out⁹.
District boards with a school census of 1,000 or more children must appoint attendance supervisors; for districts under 1,000, the county's administrative office appoints one, and must let a district with a school census of more than 200 appoint its own on written application from its board⁹.
When the attendance supervisor sends a nonattendance notice, the superintendent or principal must be told at the same time, and must tell the supervisor if the parent fails to comply⁹.
Each district and education service district must keep attendance records, run an attendance accounting system its chief administrator can certify in writing, report attendance within 15 days of the end of each collection period (the report for the period ending the first school day in October is due November 15), and keep daily source records for at least two years¹¹.
A district that is selected for and agrees to state targeted assistance must file a report assessing its needs, including the root causes of its chronic absenteeism, and must work with a state-approved coach, who must be able to identify students at risk of chronic absence^12,13.

Recent changes

What changed lately

House Bill 4154, passed in the 2026 session and signed by the Governor, requires the state to publish each district's and public charter school's regular attender and chronic absence rates four times per calendar year^6,14.
The counts cover students enrolled at least 10 days in the reporting period, are broken out by student group, and districts and charter schools get at least 15 business days to review the data and request changes before it is made public¹⁴.
That reporting duty became operative July 1, 2026 and first applies to the 2026-2027 school year; the state must explain online how its 2026-2027 method for counting regular attenders and chronically absent students differs from 2025-2026¹⁴.
Senate Bill 141 (2025), which took effect on passage, made the regular attendance rate for kindergarten through grade two a new statewide metric; district profiles now show K-2 regular attenders^15,3,16.
House Bill 3199 (2025), which took effect on passage, ordered a legislative study of statewide attendance initiatives since the 2017-2018 school year, due to legislative committees by September 30, 2026^17,18.
It also requires the state to convene an advisory committee by May 31, 2026 to recommend a State Board attendance policy with an emphasis on student groups that have historically faced academic disparities; reports are due November 30, 2026 and February 15, 2027^17,18.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Under Oregon's ESSA plan, chronic absenteeism, the share of students absent for 10 percent or more of their enrolled days, is a rated indicator, but report cards show the share who are regular attenders instead¹⁹.
As of the 2022-23 accountability reports, the long-term goal was 93% regular attenders for elementary, middle and high school grades, with the target year moved to 2026-27²⁰.
Identifications made in fall 2025 for the 2026-2027 school year used 2024-25 accountability data and named 129 schools for comprehensive support and 170 for targeted support²¹.
Senate Bill 141 (2025) requires the State Board to set statewide targets that include the regular attendance rate and the early-grade regular attendance rate, and the state must work with each district to set performance growth targets^15,16.
That law defines the regular attendance rate as the share of students absent, as determined by state education department policy, for less than 10 percent of their enrolled school days¹⁶.
Each biennium, the state must identify districts where 10 percent or more of students are chronically absent and tell each district its rate²².

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Sources

OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting), reporting Oregon Department of Education data. Attendance, key academic measures show slight improvement on latest Oregon school report cards (OPB, reporting Oregon Department of Education data for 2024-2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-11-20)
Axios Portland, reporting Oregon Department of Education data. Number du jour: 33.5% (Axios Portland, reporting Oregon Department of Education data for 2024-25) (opens in a new tab) (2025-11-24)
Oregon Department of Education. Oregon Statewide Report Card 2024-25 (opens in a new tab) (2024-25 edition; accessed 2026-10-13)
Oregon Legislative Policy and Research Office (citing ODE data). HB 2374 A Staff Measure Summary, background section (2025 Regular Session) (opens in a new tab) (2025-04-01)
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)
Office of the Governor, State of Oregon. Oregon Releases Attendance Data Showing Progress for Third Year in a Row (press release) (opens in a new tab) (2026-09-29)
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: 2021 = 2020-21, 2022 = 2021-22; rates rounded to whole percent) (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) copy of the Oregon Administrative Rules. Or. Admin. Code § 581-020-0631 - Definitions: Chronic Absenteeism (opens in a new tab) (accessed 2026-10-13)
Oregon State Legislature. ORS chapter 339 (School Attendance; Admission; Discipline; Safety), Oregon Revised Statutes, § 339.065 Estimates of attendance; irregular attendance; excused absences (opens in a new tab) (2025 edition; accessed 2026-10-13)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) copy of the Oregon Administrative Rules. Or. Admin. Code § 581-021-0077 - Compulsory Attendance Notices (opens in a new tab) (amended effective 2023-06-22; accessed 2026-10-13)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) copy of the Oregon Administrative Rules. Or. Admin. Code § 581-023-0006 - Student Accounting Records and Reporting Requirements (opens in a new tab) (accessed 2026-10-13)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) copy of the Oregon Administrative Rules. Or. Admin. Code § 581-020-0646 - Targeted Assistance (opens in a new tab) (amended effective 2022-12-19; accessed 2026-10-13)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) copy of the Oregon Administrative Rules. Or. Admin. Code § 581-020-0649 - Chronic Absenteeism Coaches (opens in a new tab) (amended effective 2022-12-19; accessed 2026-10-13)
Oregon State Legislature. Enrolled House Bill 4154 (2026 Regular Session), relating to student attendance data (opens in a new tab) (passed 2026-03-03)
Oregon Department of Education. Oregon Department of Education Releases 2024-25 At-A-Glance School and District Profiles (news release) (opens in a new tab) (2025-11-20)
Oregon State Legislature. Enrolled Senate Bill 141 (2025 Regular Session), relating to education (opens in a new tab) (passed 2025)
Oregon Department of Education. Every Day Matters - Chronic Absenteeism Statutes and Rules (opens in a new tab) (accessed 2026-10-13)
Oregon State Legislature. Enrolled House Bill 3199 (2025 Regular Session), relating to school attendance (opens in a new tab) (passed 2025-06-26)
Oregon Legislative Policy and Research Office. Accountability in K-12, Background Brief (December 29, 2022) (opens in a new tab) (2022-12-29)
Oregon Department of Education. Measures of Interim Progress (2022-23 ESSA accountability system) (opens in a new tab) (2023; accessed 2026-10-13)
Oregon Department of Education. Federal School Improvement Overview 2024-25 (identifications for SY 2026-27) (opens in a new tab) (last updated 2026-01-05)
Legal Information Institute (Cornell) copy of the Oregon Administrative Rules. Or. Admin. Code § 581-020-0637 - Identifying School Districts with a High Rate of Chronic Absenteeism (opens in a new tab) (effective 2019-02-06; accessed 2026-10-13)