More students in Arizona are ditching books and ditching classes.
According to a Helios Education Foundation and WestEd report, nearly 30% of students in Arizona missed 18 days or more during the 2022-2023 school year. Like many schools across the state, this narrative is no different at Kyrene Elementary School District. “We found that it was significant the last couple of years. Pre-COVID 12%. Post-COVID 25% in that chronic absenteeism,” said Mark Eley, the principal at Kyrene De Los Cerritos. To combat the problem, Arizona Superintendent Tom Horne is calling for schools to fail students if they have nine or more unexcused absences.
