Is South Dakota’s rate of chronic absenteeism in schools increasing?

The number of students who are marked as chronically absent in the South Dakota public school system has stayed flat since falling from a COVID-era spike.

Chronically absent students jumped from 14% in 2018-19 to 22% in 2021-22 and have stayed at 21% since then. Chronic absenteeism is when students miss more than 10% or more of school – about two days per month.

Nationally, chronic absenteeism reached 31% in 2021-22 and fell to 28% in 2022-23.

South Dakota’s chronic absenteeism is largely fueled by absences at Native American schools. During the 2023-24 school year, 51% of Indigenous students were chronically absent from school.

Chronic absenteeism is linked to a higher likelihood of students not finishing high school.

In 2023, the state Department of Education awarded grants to nine South Dakota school districts to address chronic absenteeism by implementing programs that will fund transportation, community engagement and mentoring, among others.