PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is sounding the alarm after a new report shows what he calls “catastrophic levels” of absenteeism among high school students in the state.

The new report, released on Tuesday, was conducted by the Helios Education Foundation , a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization that focuses on supporting post-secondary education for students in Arizona and Florida.

“The Helios Foundation found that grades 1-8 in Arizona have a chronic absentee rate of 28.1 percent, and grades 9-12 have rate of 37 percent. This is catastrophic,” said Horne. “We cannot teach students who are not in school. The high school student who misses more than one third of his classes is facing a bleak future.”

According to the Arizona Departme

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