The House Study Committee on Student Attendance in PreK-12 Education met on Tuesday to discuss the causes of chronic absenteeism in schools as absence rates have increased since before the pandemic in Georgia.

When students miss lots of school without an excuse, it’s known as truancy — and in Madison County, Ind., it can lead to a visit from truancy investigator Mitch Carroll.

School absenteeism was already considered too high before COVID. But there was a surprisingly sharp rise in the number of chronically absent students after things were thought to be getting back to normal.

More than a quarter of Bibb Schools students were chronically absent last school year, according to attendance data.

HuffPost reporter Molly Redden explains how a program trying to reduce school absences produced unintended consequences—both for California families and Harris herself.