School desks

Oregon has a deep current undermining its education system: Students don’t show up for class.

It was happening 20 years ago. It’s happening today.

La Pine Middle School resorted in 2004 to giving students alarm clocks to cut down on missing school. Prizes were awarded for regular attendance.

Getting students to show up continues to be all too fragile. Oregon had 36% percent of students miss 10% or more of school days in the 2021-2022 school year. That was the fourth highest rate in the nation. About 39% of Oregon students missed 16 or more school days in the 2022-2023 school year.

It isn’t the only contributing factor, but Oregon took away some of the accountability for missing school in 2021. Legislators removed truancy fines. Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, proposed a bill bringing back the fines in 2023. That bill was reshaped into creating a task force to look at the problem.

The pandemic didn’t help, either. School officials told us students and families have been readjusting to going to school five days a week after the interruptions of COVID.

What is Oregon going to do about absenteeism?

House Majority Leader Julie Fahey told us last week there have been conversations about the school funding formula that may have an impact. That’s a change that will be controversial and is likely to be more of a focus in the 2025 session.

More specifically about absenteeism, she said state Sen. Mike Dembrow, D-Portland, is convening that task force from Findley’s bill to make recommendations for the 2025 session.

“There is no simple fix to absenteeism,” she said. “There is not one thing you can do that would help.”

Fahey pointed out state Rep. Hoa Nguyen, D-Portland, has professional experience as an attendance counselor in a school district. She may bring forward an absenteeism specific package in 2025.

School districts already try to intervene to get students to attend school. In the Bend-La Pine Schools, teams look at attendance, academic performance of students and discipline to try to identify students who may need help. Every student and family may need an individualized approach. This year the district is piloting a family engagement specialist role in the four La Pine schools.

Oregon has been searching for answers on absenteeism for 20 years. The answers are still absent.