Starting July 1, 2025, Indiana schools have to follow a new attendance law from Senate Enrolled Act 482 (SEA 482). Now, students are labeled “chronically absent” if they miss 10% or more of school days even if those absences are excused. The law also says that if a student has five or more unexcused absences within 10 weeks, they’re considered an “absent student,” and the school has to contact the parent and set up a meeting about it.
At the same time, Indiana law (Indiana Code 20-19-3-15) doesn’t allow schools to give out money or prizes to students for good attendance. So basically schools are being told to track attendance more closely and step in when kids start missing too much school. But what if we looked at it differently? Instead of focusing on punishments and consequences, schools could try using positive encouragement and actually help students overcome whatever’s keeping them from coming. When students feel supported, understood, and motivated, showing up to school becomes something they want to do, not something they’re forced to do.
Indiana’s new attendance laws were put in place to help students who may struggle with attendance; however, they instead punish students and their families, rather than addressing the real problem of absenteeism. Now, the school is required to report to prosecutors after only ten unexcused absences, which scares many students instead of helping them understand the consequences of their absences. The law treats truant students as criminals instead of dealing with the issues at hand, like health issues, transportation, or family issues. As Wfyi states,” Schools must report habitually truant students to prosecutors.” This results in students feeling like they’re being punished for things that are likely out of their control, which only makes them feel more alienated from school and the real-life world.
Instead of threatening the students, lawmakers should focus on encouraging students to come to school through positive messaging. If students were rewarded for their efforts through positive reinforcements and incentives, they would begin to see attendance as something valuable and fulfilling. In the Wfyi states, “ attendance has improved in recent years, but absenteeism remains high,” meaning the punishment has not solved the issue. A reward system could encourage students to participate in a way that actually makes them feel good, instead of punishment for not showing up.
However, supporters of Indiana’s new attendance laws argue that there is a need for stronger consequences to ensure students appear. Supporters believe punishment is the necessary option when there are many other ways to go about it. For example, schools could encourage the student bodies to be present for all their classes, and all who have fewer than 5 undocumented absences will get to join an end-of-the-year pizza party. This gives students an incentive to appear at school without them feeling alienated or like they are being punished by the school.
Overall, the school could improve attendance by implementing policies that give students an incentive to go to school. This lets students who are troubled by circumstances beyond their control have another opportunity to fix themselves. I encourage students to speak with their state representative to ask them to explore alternative ways to promote attendance, rather than relying solely on punishment. You can make a difference.
