How a new Florida law helped put thousands of students back in the classroom

LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)— Southwest Florida is seeing significant improvement when it comes to students missing class. Data reviewed by WINK Investigates shows several thousand more students are showing up to class this year, a significant improvement after the state recorded one of the highest chronic absenteeism rates in the country.  

More than a third of all Florida students were chronically absent during the 2023-2024 school year. That means more than 600,000 students missed more than 10 percent of their school days.

Now, a new state law and local efforts are starting to turn things around. 

The law passed in 2025 requires School Districts to take an active roll in enforcing attendance policy.  School Districts must account for every unexcused absence.  The law states in part that If a student has had at least five unexcused absences, or absences for which the reasons are unknown, within a calendar month or 10 unexcused absences, or absences for which the reasons are unknown, within a 90-calendar-day period, the student’s primary teacher must report to the school principal or his or her designee that the student may be exhibiting a pattern of nonattendance. Unless there is clear evidence that the absences are not a pattern of nonattendance, the principal must refer the case to the school’s child study team to determine if early patterns of truancy are developing.

In Lee County, 29.2 percent of students were chronically absent in the 2024-2025 school year. That number dropped to 23.9 percent this school year, meaning about 6,000 fewer students were missing class.

In Charlotte County, a quarter of all students were chronically absent last year. This school year, that number fell to just under 21 percent.

One family at Bayshore Elementary School in North Fort Myers knows this challenge firsthand. When the bell rang sixth grader Teegan Bishop was often not there, missing more than 10% of school days, making her chronically absent.

Her father, Steven noticed something deeper was going on. "This year started out with Teegan being outcasted by her peers.  Her father says, "it was hard for her to adjust to it and want to get up and be motivated to go to school."

School social worker Kendelle Harder stepped in to help Teegan and her family.

 "Absences are really just a symptom to a bigger problem," Harder said. "So once we're able to identify that problem, my goal is to attack that and really see what we can provide to make life easier for that family."

Harder says the district is now getting ahead of the problem much earlier in the school year. "We actually have been attacking and being way more proactive with attendance, starting way early on in a child's school year". 

A new state law enacted this school year requires school districts to fight absenteeism through strict tracking and early intervention.

The Charlotte County School District enacted several programs including once again using truancy court.  A total of 16 families were sent to court this school year.

When a child misses 15 or more days in a 90-day period, they could end up in the courtroom of Judge Shannon McFee.  McFee says many of those students are elementary school-aged.

"Most of them are coming from broken homes," McFee said. "Most of them I'm only seeing the mothers here, I'm not seeing the fathers in most of these cases. Because in many times we don't know where they are." McFee says his goal is to work with families and show them what schools have to offer, but in the most serious cases, he will issue an arrest warrant for parents.

  Susan Flores, who works with the county's prevention efforts, says the focus is on stopping problems before they grow.

"We do know that delinquency begins with truancy," Flores said. "And so I think this feels a little more like we're aiming for prevention."

As for Teegan, she says going to school no longer feels like something to dread. "Because I have like my friends and like people I can talk to and trust," Teegan said.

Local school districts across Southwest Florida offer summer camps and other educational opportunities to keep students engaged during the break.

Collier County maintains the lowest rate of absenteeism in the state.