Battleground: Ballot Box - Lawmakers Huddle: Why Are So Many Georgia Students Missing School?

Donna Lowry: Since the pandemic, the rate of school absenteeism continues to rise nationwide. Georgia is seeking to address the issue, starting with ensuring that schools no longer expel students solely because they are chronically absent.

Joining me is one of the primary champions of the new law, Senator John F. Kennedy. Thank you for joining me on Lawmakers' Huddle.

John F. Kennedy: Hello, Donna. It's great to be with you. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about this really important issue to Georgia and the children of Georgia.

Donna Lowry: I know you care a lot about this. So, we're going to discuss Senate Bill 123. And by the way, what an appropriate bill number 123. Was that deliberate?

John F. Kennedy: I wish I could say I was smart enough to have made that happen, but I would just say, no. It was absolute luck and providence that we wound up with Senate Bill 123 to talk about something very important to children.

Donna Lowry: Yes, that deals with schools. When you presented the bill on the Senate floor, you called it a 'feel-good' bill aiming at addressing the issue of children not attending school. And you mentioned learning about the issue during a trip to another state. Talk about that a bit.

John F. Kennedy: Sure, so I was traveling last summer for a conference, picked up a newspaper as I was leaving the hotel to head back to the airport. And while I was on the plane, I read about the problem of chronic absenteeism in this other state. I came back to my office at the Capitol and asked the staff. I said, “Do we have a problem with chronic absenteeism in Georgia? And they said, “Well, I don't know, let's look into it.” I said we need to do a deep dive. So we did, Donna, and we learned, in fact, that we have a very, very serious problem in Georgia, as many other states do, but in Georgia with chronic absenteeism. A couple of numbers, if I could give you some. Pre-COVID, our chronic absenteeism. And that's defined as children missing more than 10% of their school days. That's basically 18 days or more of school a year that they're missing. Before COVID, we were at about 9.5%. As you would expect, it spiked during COVID and got as high as 26%. It's come down, Donna, but it's still at about 21%. Let me give you another number that will shock you as it did me, I'm sure. That represents 360,000 of our school kids in the public school systems of Georgia that are chronically absent, meaning they're missing 18 days or more. It's a serious problem. It's a hidden threat. Donna, if the kids are not in school. And learning, if they're not in their seats, they won't learn to read at the level they need to be successful. If they don't learn to read, they're not going to graduate. And if they don't graduate, they have no chance for the American dream and the Georgia dream that we want for our children.

Donna Lowry: And they become a workforce problem. And I know that's been a big focus in Georgia, especially at the legislature, making sure we are preparing students for Georgia's workforce.

John F. Kennedy: You are so right because that, our being prepared in that way, not only gives the children and tomorrow's adults and workforce a chance to be able to be self-sustaining and take care of their families. It also is a problem for Georgia and our ability to attract businesses to come into this state if we can't convince them that if they make a significant investment, there's a ready, willing, and able and educated workforce in our state to do what they want to bring here.

Donna Lowry: So, what worries you most about chronic absenteeism beyond some of the things you've talked about?

John F. Kennedy: The first thing that worried me most and still worries me is that it did not seem to be a topic of conversation or a problem that we seemed aware of. And it's not unlike the literacy problem or illiteracy problem that have in Georgia that my good friend Senator Billy Hickman (R-Statesboro) seized on about two or three years ago in looking at the statistics. And he was shocked and said, “Wait a minute, we have to do something about this. We can do better.” And so, I guess that's the first thing that concerned me. And I think one positive impact of the bill is already creating discussions, and school systems and others are starting to look at this and go, wait a minute, this is unacceptable. So that's what concerns me. So, I think we're addressing that.

But you know, Donna, this bill is just the first step. And what I mean by that is when I presented the bill to the committee and the House and the Senate, I said I don't think this is the silver bullet to fix everything. We're going to have to continue to work on this. And for that reason, I formed a study committee and that I'm chairing, or our Senate side formed a committee that I chair. And we're going be studying the issue of chronic absenteeism this summer with multiple meetings in different locations, our first ones in about two weeks. And we're going to we're going to hear from folks that are experts in the field. We're going to hear from some areas where they're really struggling with this. And I hope we're going to hear from some area that maybe has some solutions to these problems. But I want to have that conversation in a bigger setting so that from this study committee, I hope will come out with some good ideas that may inform some additional legislation that I may propose in 26, that can again further us in trying to find solutions for this problem.

Donna Lowry: So SB123 is just the beginning. Let's talk specifically about what it does. I know I mentioned earlier, it deals with making sure students aren't expelled because of chronic absenteeism. What else does it do?

John F. Kennedy: So, one of the things it does, sort of the heart of it, it creates a local attendance review team. And that has the folks in the school system -- from the counselors to the administration to other people that get involved.  If your metrics are such that you're chronically absent, that is, your school system, either a particular school or school-wide system, has a chronic absenteeism problem, you have to identify the problem. You have to work on solutions. There's some accountability there. And I think it's important for folks to know that my thought behind proposing this this way is we're not trying to say from the capital here's your solution on how you fix this you know school system in southwest Georgia or northeast Georgia because the truth is the reason that one school system one area of the state may have a chronic absenteeism problem may not be the same reason that we have chronic absentees and issues in others. And so, I think local solutions are being found to what is a general problem but maybe localized is the way to approach this. And so, that's why the bill does what it does in trying to make sure that we have local solutions for what is a statewide problem.

And Donna, to that point, if I could also add one of the things I hope, as I said, that we'll learn from the study committee this summer. What are these root causes? I would tell you from my work on this, I think it can be everything from mental health issues. It can be unstable housing that students are facing. It could be unreliable transportation issues and problems there. And sometimes it may just be a lack of connection that the student has with their school. Whatever those reasons are, and I'm sure there'll be more that'll be put on the list, we need to learn what those are because that's the first step in moving forward and trying to find solutions.

Donna Lowry: It sounds like you've touched on a problem that exists, but people were not discussing, and you've put that conversation out there. I don't know if a lot of people knew that students could be expelled if they missed a certain number of days of school. So first of all, you've got that out there.

Do you worry that if students can't be expelled though for not showing up, that they will have no incentive to come to school? And I think that may have been why this existed in the first place. Law previously.

John F. Kennedy: Well, it may be part of the thinking of why it was a part of the law, but it's a bit counterintuitive if you stop and think for a moment, right? It's like, okay, you're not attending school, which we think you should be. So, the solution is to expel you so you cannot attend school. That just made no sense to me. And that's why we changed the law in Senate Bill 123 to stop that as something that is as a punishment mechanism for kids that are missing school. That’s just. That's completely backwards. And again, I can understand the thought process behind why that was maybe initially part of the law, but it shouldn't be going forward. I think we need to, again, look for the root causes of the problems and use that to inform us in trying to find solutions, again, for the local level being implemented on a local basis.

Donna Lowry: Now, the one other thing, are you concerned that the educators will have students in class who don't want to be there? And what do you say to those teachers?

John F. Kennedy: You know, listen, as kids, I can remember days I didn't want to be at school, but that's not an excuse for us not making sure that we help them make good choices and the right decisions for their future. And that's why we've got to make sure they know how important it is.

And I think, Donna, that's another side effect that will come from this that I hope we will be communicating to the students. This is so important. We're going to surround you. With trying to find solutions to make sure that you are in school and that's a good message that the kids need to hear because it's not, you know, sometimes it's just not all about the academics that we want them to get through the learning process. Sometimes it's those aha moments the child has in school where they make a connection with someone who came in as a guest speaker, or they learned something, or they're inspired by a teacher in a way that truly puts them on a different trajectory. If those opportunities are missed, if they're not in school, that's all part of the picture we want to paint for them: you have a bright future here in Georgia, but that's not going to be available to you if you're not in school.

Donna Lowry: Well, we look forward to finding out what happens with your Senate study committee and keeping up with that and what might come out beginning in January when the General Assembly convenes. Senator Kennedy, thank you so much for coming on Lawmakers' Huddle.

John F. Kennedy: You're welcome, Donna, thank you. It's great to be with you as always.

Donna Lowry: For Lawmakers Huddle, I am Donna Lowry.