Georgia committee recommends barring chronically absent students from athletics

Georgia students chronically absent from school could miss out on participating in school athletic teams and other extracurricular activities, a Senate committee recommends.

The recommendation is one of 22 from the Study Committee on Combating Chronic Absenteeism in Schools, which held four meetings this year.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more than 10% of a school year. Georgia's rate in 2024 was 21.3%, according to the committee's final report. In 2019, the rate was 12.1%.

Sen. John F. Kennedy, R-Macon, sponsored Senate Bill 123, which required counties with a chronic absenteeism rate of 10% or more to form committees to tackle the problem. The chief Superior Court judge chairs the county committees on chronic absenteeism.

The committee's recommendations expand the authority of the local attendance review teams. Parents with a chronically absent student would have to appear before a review team and create an improvement plan before the student could participate in athletics or extra-curricular activities again.

Chronically absent students could also lose their driver's license or learning permit if the local attendance review teams are given the statutory authority to do so, according to the recommendations.

Cobb County Chief Superior Court Judge Ann B. Harris, who chairs the committee for her county, told the committee in its initial meeting that chronic absenteeism is a significant factor in high school dropout rates, which in turn affects the economy. A 2019 study shows that high school dropouts cost the nation $337 billion in lost wages.

The dropout rate also affects crime, Harris said.

"High school dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be arrested in their lifetime than those who complete high school," Harris said. "Seventy percent of Georgia's prison inmates did not complete high school. In Georgia we spend about $10,000 educating a child. We spend about $30,000 a year incarcerating an inmate."

The committee's other recommendations include the development of a "statewide real-time attendance dashboard and early-warning system so districts can act when concerns first appear rather than wait until late in the year."

Another suggestion would prohibit cellphones in high schools.

“Our work over the last few months has the power to transform our schools, strengthen our communities and improve outcomes for children across Georgia,” Kennedy said. “Across every meeting, experts emphasized that overcoming the barriers our students face will take innovative, data-driven solutions."