Sponsor
Michael F. Bennet
Senator · D-CO
Senator · D-CO
The bill improves consistency, evidence, and supports to reduce chronic absenteeism and help at-risk students, but it creates new administrative burdens and costs and risks labeling students with legitimate excused absences as chronically absent.
Students, schools, and policymakers: establishes a clear, uniform federal definition of 'chronic absenteeism' and funds research and reporting (including a GAO study) to produce consistent data and evidence-based recommendations that enable targeted interventions and policy alignment.
Students (especially those with barriers) and teachers: provides programmatic supports—additional counselors and mental‑health staff, transportation assistance (bus service), and teacher stipends for home visits—to reduce absenteeism and improve school safety and re‑engagement.
Schools, districts, and U.S. territories: aligns the absenteeism definition with existing ESEA language and explicitly includes territories, reducing ambiguity and ensuring covered jurisdictions are eligible for any programmatic provisions.
School districts, SEAs, and schools: standardizing the metric, requiring applications, reporting, and possible data-system changes will increase administrative workload and compliance costs for districts and states.
Students and families (including children with legitimate absences): counting excused absences toward the chronic absenteeism threshold could lead to inappropriate interventions, mislabeling, or adverse effects on students with health or family reasons for absence.
Students in lower-capacity districts: funding priorities for high-absenteeism or vulnerable jurisdictions and local differences in capacity may leave some districts without needed supports and produce uneven implementation and benefits.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a federal grant program for SEAs to subgrant to LEAs to reduce chronic absenteeism and requires a GAO study of absenteeism and school safety.
Official title: Help local educational agencies reduce chronic absenteeism and create safe learning environments in public elementary schools and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 23, 2026 by Michael F. Bennet · Last progress June 23, 2026
Creates a federal grant program that gives money to State educational agencies (SEAs) to subgrant to local school districts (LEAs) for programs that reduce chronic absenteeism and support safe learning environments. Grants may fund counselors, mental-health staff, transportation, home-visit stipends for teachers, evidence-based programming, data collection, and related activities. Requires SEAs and LEAs to apply and report on outcomes: LEAs must report impacts and whether schools reduced chronic absenteeism within three years, and SEAs must forward those reports to the Department of Education. Also directs the Government Accountability Office to study chronic absenteeism and school safety and issue recommendations within one year.