This week: Listen to students and counselors in rural California put a human dimension on disturbing data about why children struggling with poverty and isolation are staying out of school; and find out why a huge proposed increase for special education has become a major disagreement between the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
More than 1 in 10 students statewide were chronically absent from school in 2017-18. Rates for students in marginalized groups much higher than the state average.
At least 40 percent of California school districts and charter schools have rates of chronic absence in grades K-8 that are high or very high based on new performance measures that will be unveiled next month.
Nearly 8 million students nationwide were chronically absent during the 2015-16 school year; California accounted for more than 760,000 of those children.
