Wisconsin Assembly Approves Bill That Hold Students Back for Truancy

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024 -- 9:00 AM

(Sarah Lehr and Anya van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Assembly approved a bill Wednesday that would hold students back a grade for truancy.

According to Sarah Lehr and Anya van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, the legislation, which now heads to the state Senate, would bar students from advancing to the next grade if they have more than 30 full days of unexcused absences.

It would apply to public schools, as well as to private schools that get state funding, starting in the  2025-26 school year. Proponents argued that the legislation would increase accountability on parents who don’t sufficiently ensure their kids’ school attendance.

“By never having any type of repercussions for our actions, where would we be?” said Rep. Amy Binsfeld, R-Sheboygan, who chaired the Assembly Task Force on Truancy. “We have to get back to our schools being responsible for teaching our students and knowing the rights and responsibility of our parents, students, teachers.”

The state’s attendance rate has been dropping since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a low of 91 percent in the 2021-22 school year, the last available year of state data.

More than a fifth of Wisconsin students missed at least a month of school, and truancy rates were higher among high schoolers and in districts with higher percentages of minority students and students living in poverty, according to the data from Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, or DPI.

The DPI opposes the bill. “Wisconsin, like many other states, faces a school attendance challenge. But it’s one that must be carefully addressed with evidence-based solutions and not with bills that would further harm our kids,” State Superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement earlier this month.

“Legislation being discussed today in the Capitol appears to be intent on punitive measures that would discourage kids, create challenges for families, and are likely to actually increase absences and the likelihood of student dropouts. Mandatory grade retention is not a realistic solution and does nothing to improve student outcomes.”

Should the bill pass the Senate before it adjourns for the year, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers could end up vetoing the bill, which passed the Assembly on a voice vote. The state Assembly also passed related bills Wednesday, which include setting definitions of truancy in state law and providing school districts with $2 million in grants in the 2024-25 school year to reduce truancy.

A third bill approved Wednesday would require that parents be informed of their right to request a disability evaluation as part of the notice parents receive once a child misses five or more days of school in a semester.

Democrats argued that the bills do not address underlying causes of chronic absenteeism, such as housing instability, hunger, transportation access and mental health support.

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