U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler is championing legislation she hopes will result in students spending more time in the classroom by giving local schools flexibility to tackle chronic absenteeism.
One of the key components of the measure would give school districts the ability to tap into funds to create programs to reduce absenteeism by creating school-based mentoring programs. Schools could also use the Title IV-A block grants to collect data to better identify what’s causing students to miss school and monitor if any progress is being made. Rather than simply suspending students, which clearly results in less classroom time, it would give districts the ability to partner with local health, transportation and social service providers to create a more compassionate approach to combating absenteeism.
“Empowering students with quality education is so important to their success, and we should identify and eliminate obstacles to achieving that goal,” the Camas Republican said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Washington state has the most public school districts that face chronic absenteeism in the U.S. I’m pleased to help offer this solution that empowers educators at the local level with tools and support to address factors that are leading to kids in Southwest Washington missing school.”
In New York, a local task force created solutions focused on absent students and watched as they became 31 percent less likely to be chronically absent, according to information from Herrera Beutler’s office.
