States / Washington

Chronic absence in Washington

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

School year 2024-25

27.1%

of students were chronically absent²

Chronically absent means missed 10% or more of their school days (18 days in a school year), excused or unexcused.²

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁵

Washington chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2018-19	15%
2020-21	19%
2021-22	33%
2022-23	30%
2023-24	27.3%
2024-25	27.1%

Washington chronic absence by school year

School year

Chronically absent

2018-19

15%

2020-21

19%

2021-22

33%

2022-23

30%

2023-24

27.3%

2024-25

27.1%

The numbers

In 2024-25, 27.1% of Washington students were chronically absent, barely down from 27.3% in 2023-24².
That is still far above 2018-19, when about 15% were chronically absent, though below the 2021-22 peak of about 33%¹.
The state report card shows the flip side: the share of students attending regularly rose from 69.9% in 2022-23 to 72.9% in 2024-25³.
In 2024-25, 110,287 students, 9.6% of the K-12 population, met the legal definition of truancy; only 5.2% of them had a petition filed in juvenile court, down from 11–12% before the pandemic⁴.
Truancy is far higher for some groups: in 2024-25, 38% of unaccompanied youth and 28% of students experiencing homelessness met the truancy threshold, against 10% of all students⁴.
Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, below Washington's 27.1% that year^5,2.

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Under the state absence rule, districts must take daily attendance for all enrolled students the rule covers, whether instruction is in person, live online or self-paced online. The rule does not cover students in an alternative learning experience who are claimed for state funding¹².
For students the rule covers, when instruction is live online or self-paced, secondary schools must take attendance daily in each course with planned instruction, and elementary schools at least twice a day¹².
Under the state absence rule (which does not cover students in an alternative learning experience who are claimed for state funding), a student is absent from in-person instruction when not physically on school grounds and not taking part, at an approved location, in instruction, an instruction-related activity, or another approved activity under an academic accountability system, such as district-sponsored sports¹².
Under the state absence rule (which does not cover students in an alternative learning experience who are claimed for state funding), a school or district must not convert or combine tardies into absences that count toward a truancy petition¹².
Under the state's definition, a student has an unexcused absence when they miss the majority of hours or periods in an average school day (or break a stricter district policy) and the absence does not meet the district's excused-absence policy. Failing an alternative learning experience program's attendance requirements also counts⁶.

Counselors

When an elementary child has five or more excused absences in a single month, or ten or more in the current school year, the district must schedule a conference with the parent and child to identify barriers to regular attendance and the supports that may be made available⁹.
That conference must include at least one district employee such as a nurse, counselor, social worker, teacher or community human services provider; for a child with an IEP or 504 plan, the team that wrote the plan must be reconvened instead. No conference is needed if prior notice or a doctor's note was given and an academic plan keeps the child from falling behind⁹.
At some point after the second and before the seventh unexcused absence, the school must take data-informed steps to reduce the absences. In middle and high school, these must include the state's risk-and-needs screener (WARNS) or another assessment⁶.
For a child with an IEP or 504 plan, those steps must include convening the plan team, with a behavior or mental health specialist where appropriate; if necessary and the parent consents, a functional behavior assessment and behavior plan must follow. For a child reasonably believed to have a disability but without a plan, the parent must be told of the right to an evaluation at no cost⁶.
Where appropriate, the steps must include an approved best practice or research-based intervention, a changed program, school or course assignment, more individualized instruction, vocational options, referral to a community engagement board, an alternative program, or help getting supplementary services⁶.

Attendance team

After one unexcused absence within any month in the current school year, the school must notify the parent in writing or by phone, explain the potential consequences of more unexcused absences, and make reasonable efforts to do so in a language the parent is fluent in⁶.
After three unexcused absences within any month in the current school year, the school must schedule a conference with the parent and child to analyze the causes. It may use a regular parent-teacher conference day within thirty days; if the parent does not come, the conference may go ahead with the student and a school official, and the parent must be told the steps to be taken⁶.
No later than the seventh unexcused absence in a month, the district must either sign an attendance agreement with the student and parent, refer the student to a community engagement board (which then makes the agreement), or file a truancy petition⁷.
For a child under seventeen, if the school's steps have not substantially reduced the absences, the district must file a juvenile court petition after the seventh unexcused absence within any month and no later than the 15th unexcused absence in the current school year. It must list all interventions tried and attach any prior truancy assessment, the intervention history and the latest truancy information sent to the parent. A non-attorney employee may file⁷.
The court first stays the petition and refers the child and parent to a community engagement board or other coordinated intervention; if none is in place, the court schedules a hearing. A hearing is not required if other actions by the court would substantially reduce the child's unexcused absences. If the court takes jurisdiction, the district must report new unexcused absences, its actions and the child's academic status on the court's schedule, with the first report due no later than three months after the court takes jurisdiction⁸.

Principals & districts

Each school must tell students and parents about the benefits of regular attendance, the effects of excessive absences (excused or unexcused), the school's expectations of parents, available resources, the school's role and the consequences of truancy, at enrollment in a new school and at the start of each school year; a parent must date and acknowledge reviewing it¹⁰.
Every district must name a person or persons to coordinate its work on excessive absenteeism and truancy, report that name to the local juvenile court and the state education agency, and identify a contact person in every school¹¹.
Each district must sign a memorandum of understanding with its county juvenile court on running a community engagement board; a district with fewer than three hundred students may instead agree on other coordinated means of intervention¹¹.
Under the state absence rule (which does not cover students in an alternative learning experience who are claimed for state funding), districts must provide minimum tiered attendance supports: monitor daily attendance data for every absent student, excused or unexcused; contact families with multiple attempts and modes in the parent's home language; offer universal and tiered supports, including attendance or engagement teams; and reach out to students withdrawn for nonattendance when there is no evidence they are enrolled elsewhere¹².
Under the state absence rule (which does not cover students in an alternative learning experience who are claimed for state funding), any absence is unexcused unless it meets a state excused reason; districts may add excused categories, and the principal or designee decides whether an absence is excused. Districts must report student absences to the state through its education data system¹².

What changed lately

The state absence rule (which does not cover students in an alternative learning experience who are claimed for state funding) was amended effective 7/11/25. As amended, its list of absences that must be excused includes suspensions, expulsions or emergency removals when the student is not receiving educational services and is not enrolled in qualifying course-of-study activities¹².
The same update (effective 7/11/25) also amended the general-requirements section, which says that, for students the rule covers, those who are suspended, expelled or emergency removed are not counted absent while they receive the required educational services and are enrolled in qualifying course-of-study activities, and schools may not convert or combine tardies into absences that count toward a truancy petition¹².
Washington's state superintendent signed on to a national challenge to cut chronic absenteeism by 50% in 5 years, and the state agency is inviting districts to help cut the rate from 27% to 14% by 2029^4,2.

How the state holds schools to it

Washington reports chronic absence through its inverse on the state report card: regular attendance, meaning students attending 90% or more of school days⁴.
Regular attendance counts in the Washington School Improvement Framework, the state's school accountability framework, as a measure of school quality and student success³.
A student attends regularly with, on average, less than two absences per month, excused or unexcused. An absence means missing at least half the school day, and only students enrolled at least 90 days at a school are counted³.
The state's goal line falls each year to 13.7% in 2028-29. It set 25.0% for 2024-25; the actual rate that year was 27.1%².