Louisiana schools face rising truancy rates, attendance efforts intensify

SHREVEPORT, La. - Louisiana's K-12 public schools are facing a concerning trend: empty hallways and quiet classrooms. Enrollment numbers continue to decline, and student attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels, prompting state officials to intensify efforts to address absenteeism.

The Louisiana Department of Education defines truancy as a student accumulating five or more unexcused absences in a semester. Over the past four years, the state's truancy rate has consistently exceeded 40%, up from an average of 36% over the preceding decade. In the 2023–24 school year, the truancy rate reached 41%, with students missing an average of 11 days.

Notably, absenteeism rates vary significantly across Louisiana's parishes. In 2013, Tensas Parish had a truancy rate of 32.4% with 659 students en