All in For Attendance Act

[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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