A bill that would prevent Arizona schools from suspending students for missing classes failed to pass Congress this year despite bipartisan support.

Democratic Rep. Laura Terek created House Bill 2748 in response to a nearly year-long investigation by AZCIR and the Hechinger Report, a controversial disciplinary measure that would suspend Arizona students for tardiness and absenteeism. revealed for the first time the range of

The Hechinger/AZCIR analysis, based on data from more than 150 school districts and charter networks, which represent approximately 61 percent of the state’s public school students, had more than 47,000 suspensions for non-attendance over five years. It has been found. Students reported feeling even more demotivated and academically declining after being suspended. Black, Latino, and Native American students were disproportionately punished.

“As a field educator, I often see students not coming to school for a variety of reasons. Maybe there’s something going on — maybe there’s a bullying problem, or maybe you’re feeling particularly stressed in one of your classes,” the former elementary school teacher told lawmakers on the House Education Committee. told to Hearing this year.

Rather than suspending students, Terechi said, “we can address these issues by working with students, supporting them, learning what they need, and ensuring that they are able to stay in school.” It is better to do,” he said.

Mr. Telehi spotted several allies across the passage. For example, Republican Senator John Kavanagh told AZCIR that he signed the bill as a co-sponsor because he thought it was “seemingly silly” to block students from classes for missing classes. But Republican leadership passed the bill after other party lawmakers expressed concern it would remove a tool that schools rely on to give parents a “wake-up.” It was never brought to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. Terehi vowed to revive it next year.

The debate comes as the larger issue of keeping students in school is receiving renewed attention across the state. Lead-on-Arizona convened a task force this spring to address a spike in chronic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism is defined by state law as a student absent from school for more than 10 percent of the grade, or about 18 days or more.

Absenteeism has long been a problem in Arizona, but the pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in absenteeism across the state. In 2019, 14 percent of K-12 students were chronically absent, according to Arizona Department of Education data. By 2022, that proportion has jumped to 34 percent, and some schools have further increased attendance-related suspensions in response to rising absenteeism. A study by AZCIR/Hechinger found it.

The Lead on Arizona Task Force brings together members of the governor’s office, school districts, state agencies, community groups and legislatures. Together, they will analyze state and local data on attendance, chronic absenteeism, and student performance, gather advice from national experts, and make recommendations to help school districts prevent persistent absenteeism. and develop resources.

Task Force members say the AZCIR/Hechinger investigation uncovered a link between suspensions and absenteeism in Arizona, which had not been made public before. A key idea discussed at the group’s first meeting was the need to move away from punitive responses to absenteeism and instead focus on support.

“We’ve got the right players at the right table at the right time to start a conversation,” said Lori masseuse at Lead on Arizona, who oversees the task force.

The shift away from absenteeism penalties has already started at the local level. As part of a broader effort to meet the social and emotional needs of students, Valley of the Sun United Way focuses on supportive approaches to addressing the reasons why students are absent from school, Maricopa We have been helping county school districts address chronic absenteeism for several years.

The organization plans to expand this effort over the next few years, and Lead on Arizona will partner with the national nonprofit Attendance Works to launch its own professional development for schools. Both efforts aim to help teachers and school leaders move beyond punitive responses to absenteeism.

Dawn Gerund, director of community development and education for Valley of the Sun United Way, said avoiding suspensions in response to absences is a core recommendation. A growing body of research has linked missing just two days of school per month to specific effects, such as lower reading skills in third grade, lower math performance in middle school, and higher dropout rates in high school. .

“A suspension is an absence,” said Gerund. “If a student is suspended, he/she will be absent.”

In the suspended school districts in the AZCIR/Hechinger sample, missing classes accounted for 10 percent of all suspensions, resulting in tens of thousands of days of school absence. About one in five of those suspended is a student, and the US Department of Justice and Department of Education have highlighted this as a particular concern.

When presented with the findings last fall, Arizona Department of Education spokesman Richie Taylor suggested the state should reconsider its policy on discipline for attendance-related issues.

But that was before the state police department was replaced in January and transferred to Republican Tom Horn. It’s unclear what Mr. Horn’s views on future legislation are, and while the administration has declined to comment that it “respects the legislative process,” he has historically supported schools that take a hardline approach to discipline.

When the Arizona legislature moves next year to ban suspensions for absenteeism, the state will join at least 17 states that have already restricted or removed the authority of school districts to punish attendance problems with suspensions.

While school districts across the state have largely refused to take a position on the proposed ban, some education officials told AZCIR they feel suspensions have a “last resort” stance. Told.

Eric Patten, a spokesperson for the Yuma Union High School District and former teacher, said students working to support their families or caring for younger siblings became barriers to attendance and punctuality. “If there is communication about what is going on,” he said. — Staff can “work on solutions instead of pausing.”

But if parents don’t respond to phone calls, emails or home visits, authorities may close schools and force them to take action. Yuma Union was one of the five school districts most frequently suspended for attendance problems in the five years surveyed by AZCIR and the Hechinger Report.

“Sometimes the suspension actually gets their attention and brings it to the negotiating table,” Patten said. “And I think that is the justification, or at least the reason, for some suspensions in such cases.”

School officials in other states also objected. Interviews with these administrators noted state leaders’ willingness to intervene to limit attendance-related suspensions, and Lupita Hightower, Arizona’s annual school superintendent and Tolleson Elementary School District Superintendent, was also unusual. I admitted that it was about.

Hightower, which issued only three out-of-school suspensions for attendance from 2017 to 2022, said Hightower had a statewide suspension for tardiness and non-attendance that could put students on edge. He is one of those willing to give up some local control of student discipline in favor of banning it. Chronic absenteeism threshold.

“If we, as administrators, are complicit in the problem, it’s not good for the children,” she says. “If it had to be legislated, I would agree to it.”

Ernest Rose, superintendent of the Phoenix-based Wilson Elementary School, is equally outspoken about the issue. During suspension, students do not receive support to change bad habits, nor do they receive support for barriers that may prevent them from attending school, such as family or work commitments or bullying at school. .

“I don’t want to say it’s common knowledge because if it was common knowledge, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Rose said. However, “if we look at the overall academic achievement of our students, they cannot participate in instruction if they are not in school.”

Earlier last year, Rhodes introduced a new code of conduct to curb attendance-related suspensions after noticing an over-reliance on suspensions in general. According to AZCIR/Hechinger data, the Wilson School District issued eight suspensions and 26 on-site suspensions to its youngest students for missing school between September and December 2021.

Rhodes noted that school districts continue to suspend suspensions in certain cases if ongoing attendance issues “escalate.” However, he supports the state of Arizona eliminating attendance suspensions.

He believes educators should focus on getting those students back into the classroom, even if they are habitually truant, rather than penalizing them across the board. “It defeats the purpose of stopping them,” he said.

Telehi cited the same logic when discussing plans to revive the bill in the next parliament.

“Yes, it’s a tool,” she said of the attendance-related suspension. “But it’s not a good thing.”