Adding Up The Cost Of Florida’s Absenteeism

Melinda Taber / Flickr

Take a look at how many students are chronically absent in your school or district.

Yesterday we told you about a new study tabulating the often hidden cost of absenteeism.

But it isn’t hidden in Florida, which is one of a handful of states which tracks chronic absenteeism. Florida considers students who miss 21 or more days of schools as chronically absent.

Rural school districts tend to have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than urban district.

But Pinellas County is an exception. Nearly 18 percent of students in a school district of more than 125,000 students missed 21 or more days of school.

Those days stack up quick, according to Florida Department of Education data. Pinellas County students missed at least 467,586 days last year — or the equivalent of nearly 2,600 school years total.

Check out these tables to see how your district fares.

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