Tracy Pennycuick, R-Red Hills, is pictured during a Senate debate.

A state lawmaker wants the state to do more to address school truancy and chronic absenteeism.

State Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Red Hill, is drafting legislation to deal with a nearly 7% decrease in school attendance from 2018-19 to 2023-24. Attendance decreased statewide from 85% in 2018-19 to 78.1% in 2023-24.

“In some districts, the numbers are far worse,” Pennycuick wrote in her co-sponsorship memorandum. “If students aren’t in school, they simply are not learning. We need to increase accountability of parents, students, and schools; coordinate supports for students; and provide additional tools for the courts in the truancy process.”

Only two Warren County School District schools were meeting the state’s attendance standards in 2022-23, the last year the data is available. The statewide average attendance rate that year was 78.1%. According to the Future Ready PA Index on Friday, Beaty Warren’s attendance rate was 76.2%, Eisenhower Middle/High School’s attendance rate was 78.9%, Sheffield Elementary School’s attendance rate was 75.1%, Sheffield Middle-High School’s attendance rate was 70.9%, Warren Area Elementary School’s attendance rate was 74.1%, Warren Area High School’s attendance rate was 60.7% and Youngsville Middle-High School’s attendance rate was 75.6%. None met the state’s attendance standards for schools. Only Eisenhower Elementary School (84.8%) and Youngsville Elementary School (83.9%) met the state’s standard.

Pennycuick proposes reforming the mid-year transfers for truant students from school districts to cyber schools, requiring cyber charter schools to share real-time attendance and academic data with the school district sending the school to the cyber charter and making all students follow the same uniform truancy process, regardless of whether they attend school in person or virtually.

The bill has yet to be introduced in the state Senate yet, but Pennycuick also wants the state Department of Education to be required to track and publicly report truancy rates while promoting early intervention services that connect families with local resources. Those services will help families build better routines and habits at home to support regular attendance. The bill will also aim to improve support for at-risk students, Pennycuick said, by requiring the state Departments of Education and Human Services to develop protocols to help identify students at risk of falling behind before they fall into chronic absenteeism. Lastly, Pennycuick proposes allowing cases to continue after the school year ends to monitor truant students in the new school year. Grading repeated habitual truancy as a third-degree misdemeanor will allow for court, probation, and Children and Youth Services (CYS) involvement in addressing the needs of habitually truant students.

“Truancy is not just a legal issue, it’s an educational crisis with long-term consequences for student achievement, family well-being, and community safety,” Pennycuick said.

According to state law set in Act 138, after three unexcused absences, schools must send home a notice outlining next steps including possible penalties such as fines. After six unexcused days, parents must attend a school attendance improvement conference. An optional penalty for a truant student is suspension of their driver’s license.

A Joint State Government Commission report released in April 2024 recommended schools be given more time to identify and mitigate truant behavior through school attendance improvement plans and other steps before involving county child welfare agencies and magisterial district judges (MDJ) in a case. It also recommended providing state funding so schools can hire people focused solely on truancy services; expanding existing Student Assistance Programs to address truancy; involving intermediate units in truancy response; providing more ongoing truancy education for magisterial district judges and improving communication among parties involved.