As students across Arizona start going back to school, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego has introduced a bill aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism.
Chronic absence is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year. In Arizona, that’s about 18 days of class.
The state’s percentage of chronically absent students was 28% in the most recent year on record, more than double the rate of the school year before the pandemic.
Gallego’s bill, called Keeping Our Students in School Act, would create a competitive grant program for local education agencies to fund proven absenteeism-reduction interventions.
Those include providing student transportation, conducting home visits and wellness checks, creating student mentorship programs, and investing in absenteeism monitoring software or other tools.
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House Republican leaders have agreed to impose some new limits on the use of school vouchers in exchange for education advocates scrapping a more far-reaching measure to rein in the school choice program. -
The Arizona Board of Regents has filed a lawsuit, on behalf of Arizona State University, so the school can acquire a privately owned historic property. -
Many of us have had the experience of lying in bed in the middle of the night, trying desperately to fall asleep and not being able to. Researchers at the University of Arizona will be studying how being awake at that hour can impact our decision-making abilities. -
Questions raised about integrity of Big 12 games after Texas Tech QB ruled eligible despite gamblingA ruling from a judge in Texas has led to a lot of consternation over one school in the Big 12 — that’s the conference in which both Arizona State University and University of Arizona play. -
Community members packed another school board meeting on Tuesday to participate in public comment.
