American comedian and filmmaker Woody Allen famously stated that “80% of successes are manifested.” That’s probably clear to anyone who has been a parent, served in the military, played on sports teams, or worked in the corporate world. This is especially true for children in school days. And that’s why Florida is facing another brewing problem.
As you may know, school absenteeism in Florida has skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, as a recent report showed, the rate has not returned, causing confusion among experts and frustrating educators.
Florida missed more than three weeks of school last year, reports from the Orlando Sentinel and the South Florida Sun Sentinel. According to the latest figures available, this leads to more than three out of 10 students, roughly the same as in the Covid era. And it has risen from about 2 out of 10 in the grade before Covid.
The numbers should not surprise Tampa Bay residents. The fee coincides with last year’s Tampa Bay Times report, where it found chronic absenteeism in 31% statewide, with ranges between 28% and 31% in Pinellas, Hillsboro and Pasco counties.
These reports show significant changes in student attendance attitudes and how little Florida is in order to bring children back to the classroom. Some families are more casual about showing up. Others face financial or transport hurdles when changing housing or routines or taking their children to school.
School absenteeism is a nationwide issue. However, Florida stands out for its numerous missing students and failing to find statewide relief. For example, during the 2022-23 academic year, Florida ranked 40th in the national chronic absence rate, performing better than the other 10 states. Last year, attendees from advocacy groups urged all 50 states to tackle absenteeism, as the Sentinel pointed out, to address absenteeism in a “all-handed approach.” However, Florida did not follow any of the group’s recommendations and was the only state that could not respond when the group asked for updated figures this year.
Florida lawmakers haven’t taken the issue seriously. A Senate spokesman said leaders view attendees as local issues that best remained in individual school districts. That hypocrisy is rich. Florida has no problem promoting statewide agenda when it comes to ban books, granting private school tuition fees, and establishing fellow governors as university presidents. But hypocrisy aside, state omission ignores the scope of the problem and the danger it presents to Florida.
First, if this crisis is isolated, it is one thing. However, Florida’s chronic absences have worsened in 66 of the state’s 67 counties, Sentinel found. Absenteeism rose among high school, middle school and elementary school students, and surged across all major metropolitan areas of the state. Naturally, this was also evident in high-poverty schools, where the proportion of low-poverty schools was almost twice as high. If there’s a statewide outbreak, this is it.
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Secondly, Florida schools everywhere, from Miami to Pensacola, contribute to the state’s competitiveness. And experts linked chronic absenteeism to lower mathematics and lower test scores. Florida middle schoolers scored the lowest reading and mathematics scores for over 20 years in the 2024 national rating, Sentinel found, but the state fourth graders achieved a 20-year low in reading. Also, in 2024, Florida High School seniors posted the state’s lowest SAT scores in 10 years.
Having no children in school costs them and our society in other ways. Students miss learning the building blocks of dealing with others and interacting with them in groups. They lose time in their formative years of mental engagement and acceptance of the responsibilities that come with participating in team sports, yearbooks and other extracurricular activities. Staying at home is to reinforce the false notion that we can remove ourselves from our civic life. What a terrible concept to plant in teenagers.
Florida school districts have tried many ways to bring kids back, from contacting families and holding pizza parties to making classes more interactive. Of course, parents have an important role to play in the well-being of their children. But this is also a matter of the workforce that requires leadership from Tallahassee. The state has at least been able to launch an ad campaign, like the ad campaign against drunk driving and smoking that the government has long used to curb destructive behavior.
Engage children from schools in Heck, Florida. The poster competition begins. There are many hidden talents out there.
