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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9320 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 9320
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow
local educational agencies to use Federal funds for programs and
activities that address chronic absenteeism, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 15, 2026
Mr. Menefee (for himself, Ms. Bynum, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Carter of
Louisiana, Mr. Figures, Ms. Norton, Mrs. McIver, Ms. Ross, Ms. Wilson
of Florida, and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow
local educational agencies to use Federal funds for programs and
activities that address chronic absenteeism, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``All in For Attendance Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Students who are chronically absent--meaning they miss
10 percent or more of the school year--are more likely to fall
behind academically, which can lead to hardships later in life.
These students are nearly four times more likely to not
graduate from high school. This leaves them prone to living in
poverty, suffering from diminished health, and being involved
in the criminal justice system later in life.
(2) The Research and Development Corporation (RAND) found
that around 22 percent of students were chronically absent
during the 2024-2025 school year. No State has fully returned
to pre-pandemic levels.
(3) According to the Department of Education, during the
2024-2025 school year, students of color, specifically American
Indian, Black, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander students, were
disproportionately represented in students who are considered
chronically absent. According to research by Stanford
University, local immigration raids have dramatically
exacerbated chronic absenteeism amongst Latino students,
specifically with younger students. These years are critical in
education formation and foundation and missing school can
further exacerbate learning inequalities.
(4) The Department of Education has found that chronic
absenteeism is widespread, stemming from a wide range of often
overlapping internal and external factors. External factors
include homelessness, challenges within families, and
transportation; while internal factors include health concerns,
fear of bullying, concern for safety, and not valuing daily
school attendance. Therefore, it is critical to have cross-
sector collaborations and multifaceted strategies that
incorporate parents (or guardians, as appropriate) and public
and community partners.
(5) According to EdTrust, chronic absenteeism can be
improved by investing in professional development for teachers
and professionals to help increase relationships amongst
students, parents, and their community. Research from the
University of Chicago Consortium on School Research
demonstrates that attendance is higher in schools where
students' relationships with their peers and teachers are
stronger and that teachers' reports of their relationships with
parents were also significantly related to absence rates in
their school in both middle grades and high schools. Research
on Social and Emotional Learning has shown that students who
demonstrate improved social and emotional learning skills are
less likely to be chronically absent. In addition, early
intervention with tiered-approach responses has been shown to
reduce chronic absenteeism.
(6) Research from Stanford University demonstrates that
high-impact tutoring can serve as an effective intervention to
reduce student absenteeism. A 2025 study found that students
were 1.2 percentage points less likely to be absent on days
when they were scheduled to receive tutoring, with the
strongest effects observed among middle school students and
those with a history of chronic absenteeism. The study further
found that tutoring programs were most effective at improving
attendance when they incorporated evidence-based design
features, including small group instruction, frequent sessions,
and delivery during the school day.
SEC. 3. INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM.
(a) In General.--Section 4108(5) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7118(5)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (H)(iii) by striking ``or'' at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (I), by striking the period at the end
and inserting ``; or''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(J) interventions for students who miss or are at
risk of missing 10 percent or more of school days (as
determined at any time during a school year), which may
include--
``(i) implementing data collection systems
that--
``(I) assist schools in collecting
and tracking attendance data;
``(II) include at least one early
warning indicator for students that
identifies--
``(aa) unexcused absences;
``(bb) excused absences;
``(cc) absences due to
sickness;
``(dd) absences due to
suspension or expulsion; or
``(ee) absences due to a
State emergency; and
``(III) collect, disaggregate, and
cross-tabulate data on chronic
absenteeism and attendance by--
``(aa) the categories
described in section
1111(b)(2)(B)(xi);
``(bb) homeless status;
``(cc) whether the student
is in foster care; and
``(dd) whether the student
has a parent who is a member of
the Armed Forces (as defined in
section 101(a)(4) of title 10,
United States Code);
``(ii) creating data-sharing and
confidentiality agreements between schools and
social services agencies, city and county
governments, partner agencies, or community
organizations working with students;
``(iii) publishing and maintaining on a
publicly available website data on chronic
absenteeism and attendance (excluding any
personally identifiable information), including
publishing such data for each school year;
``(iv) establishing an advisory system to
improve family engagement with student
attendance that--
``(I) collects input from teachers;
``(II) provides counseling and
support, to the extent practicable, for
students and their families in their
primary language, including by
conducting home visits; and
``(III) dedicates a space at school
for parents to receive resources
pertaining to child education,
participate in school activities, and
engage with the school community;
``(v) establishing a tiered system of
support with targeted engagement and
interventions for individual students, small
groups of students, and the student body;
``(vi) providing professional development
opportunities for educational service centers
and state support teams to build the capacity
of local educational agencies and schools to
reduce chronic absence;
``(vii) partnering with local health and
transportation services to target chronic
absence intervention efforts;
``(viii) partnering with community
organizations that remove barriers to attending
school by providing student mentorship, family
engagement, and pipeline services (as defined
in section 4622);
``(ix) establishing goals and evaluation of
outcomes for mentored students;
``(x) planning and carrying out ongoing
coordination between mentors and school
personnel to identify individual student
challenges causing chronic absenteeism in an
effort to connect mentees to appropriate
intervention efforts;
``(xi) identifying issues that lead to
school absences;
``(xii) meeting with students and parents
to engage students and improve student
performance;
``(xiii) arranging for home visits by
teachers to develop relationships among
students, parents, and schools;
``(xiv) connecting students to existing
school resources and activities, including
school counseling services and community-based
organizations;
``(xv) using mentors to serve as a bridge
between students, parents, and schools;
``(xvi) implementing evidence-based
restorative justice strategies aimed at
reducing suspensions in order to keep students
in school;
``(xvii) implementing evidence-based social
and emotional learning strategies and programs
aimed at strengthening student relationships
with peers and teachers, improving sense of
belonging, and cultivating a more inclusive
school culture and climate; and
``(xviii) implementing evidence-based high-
impact tutoring programs, including high-dosage
tutoring, that provide consistent, small-group,
or one-on-one academic support to students with
the goal of improving student engagement,
attendance, and academic outcomes.''.
(b) Assurance.--Section 4106(e)(2)(D) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7116(e)(2)(D)) is amended by
striking the semicolon and inserting ``, including an assurance that
the local educational agency, or consortium of local educational
agencies, will not implement or carry out policies that include
suspensions, fines, or academic penalties for students who have
absences;''.
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