The Tucson Unified School District is looking for ways to combat a near-40% chronic absence rate across grade levels.
Arizona defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10%, or 18 days, of a school year.
While TUSD’s rate has remained fairly consistent since the 2023-24 school year, superintendent Gabriel Trujillo is sounding the alarm on the number of excused absences students are taking.
An excused absence requires parental notice or administrative approval according to the district policy. There is no cap on the number of excused absences a student can take and they are not penalized for missing class when excused.
After the 10th unexcused absence, students risk losing class credit.
At the end of last school year, more than 5,800 out of about 37,000 district students had an attendance rate below 80%.
In a governing board discussion on Tuesday, some members said they worry adding stricter attendance rules could have a counterproductive effect.
“I don’t want to completely put the blame on parents 100%,” board member Natalie Luna Rose said.
Member Val Romero suggested enforcing a cap on the number of excused absences students can take, though Luna Rose cautioned the district not to “bring down the hammer” in case more intervention causes even higher absences.
That’s why the district is hoping to take a preventative approach, such as encouraging parents to seek the district’s Family Resource Centers. The greatest challenge with that, Trujillo says, is getting the word out.
According to Read On Arizona — the state’s early literacy solutions collaborative — 24% of K-8 students were chronically absent. Those rates appear higher for economically disadvantaged students and Native American students.
But TUSD is seeing its highest absences among high schoolers, with the 12th grade excused absence rate at 7.1% and 10.2% for unexcused absences. That’s according to data Trujillo presented to the board this week.
Read On Arizona and Read On Pima County make the reduction of chronic absenteeism a focal point in enhancing early literacy. Missing just one day of reading instruction could mean losing out on a particular pronunciation or literacy diagram, Read On Pima Chair Amber Schlack told AZPM.
TUSD rolled out its enrollment and attendance campaign in the spring when officials said a few dozen community liaisons would transition into Student Relations to work with families on boosting attendance. Trujillo said those conversations are happening now.
“The goal of the school community liaison is getting into a living room and having the ‘Did you know?’ (conversation),” he said.
The district may explore the possibility of hiring truancy officers who would give out citations or tickets for excessive absences. That idea wasn’t popular among board members, nor has it been in the last decade that Trujillo has been superintendent, he said.
On Tuesday, board member Jennifer Eckstrom emphasized that students aren’t necessarily skipping school excessively because they want to, but because economic or health barriers may limit their access.
Enrollment falls by another 3%
Meanwhile, the district could also be facing a 3% enrollment decline and a 13.3% decline in kindergarten enrollment this year. David Scott, a data analyst with TUSD, told the board this week that those numbers reflect an overall drop in birth rates and the expansion of alternative education.
“The numbers that I’ve presented here are more or less in line with what we had anticipated, but maybe because of that kindergarten decline, a little bit higher,” Scott said.
Last year, enrollment had dropped by 3% from 2024 — from 40,200 to 39,000. Official 100th-day data has not yet been released for this school year.
Pima County school districts could see an average 13% decline in kindergarten enrollment this year. The average total enrollment loss across all grade levels is projected to hit 3.5%, Scott said.
Preliminary state data shows other districts, like Altar Valley, could suffer drops of up to 19%. Charter schools as a whole are expected to see a 7% decrease in enrollment.
“Not particularly good news, but you can tell that our figures fit pretty well within the context of what the county is experiencing as a whole,” Scott said.
By December, the TUSD board is set to vote on potential school consolidations or closures due to enrollment shortfalls. Later this month, several high schools will be hosting engagement sessions to hear family and staff concerns. You can RSVP here.
