[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM IS A CONCERNING TREND

  (Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER. Mr. Speaker, September is the time when students 
return back to school, and it also marks Attendance Awareness Month.
  Chronic absenteeism is a concerning trend in my district in southwest 
Washington State and across America. In the 2013-2014 school year, more 
than 6.8 million students missed enough class to be considered 
chronically absent.
  My State of Washington has the second highest chronic absenteeism 
rate in the country, with 25 percent of students being chronically 
absent. We can do better.
  To understand the challenges locally, I recently met with several 
superintendents in southwest Washington, and there are a myriad of 
issues that these students are facing.
  We are trying to address some of these with H.R. 1864, the Chronic 
Absenteeism Reduction Act, which I have introduced with my Democratic 
colleague, Tim Ryan from Ohio.
  This bill would empower schools to solve attendance problems locally, 
using such tactics as partnering with local health, transportation, and 
social service providers, and implementing school-based mentoring 
programs.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill.

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