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Oregon to Repeal Attendance Laws. 1 in 3 Students Already Chronically Absent.

Resist Now 3 min read

Oregon education officials are recommending repeal of 11 state statutes governing compulsory school attendance, proposing to replace them with new rules that treat attendance as a “performance growth indicator” rather than a compliance obligation. The Oregon Department of Education delivered the plan to the Senate Interim Education Committee on June 17, 2026 alongside a 20-page report.

Oregon’s Chronic Absenteeism Dwarfs the National Rate

Oregon’s attendance crisis is severe by national comparison. About one-third of Oregon students were chronically absent in 2024, meaning they missed 17 or more school days in a school year that is already one of the shortest in the country.

1 in 3 Oregon students were chronically absent in 2024. Nationally, roughly 1 in 5 students met that threshold, according to U.S. Department of Education data.

Oregon’s chronic absenteeism rate is more than 60 percent above the national average. That gap has persisted since students returned to school after the COVID pandemic, roughly five years ago.

The Repeal Plan: What It Does and Doesn’t Include

The ODE report recommends eliminating 11 existing statutes, with the State Board of Education tasked with drafting replacements. The report describes some current laws as “outdated” and “duplicitive,” and notes that homeschooling regulations are currently bundled into attendance statutes.

The report includes no recommendations for punitive enforcement or any accountability framework for students or districts that fail to improve attendance. The proposal’s framing is direct:

“Oregon’s current compulsory attendance statutes and rules are grounded in compliance-oriented definitions of attendance, static thresholds, and enforcement mechanisms.”

Oregon Department of Education, report to the Senate Interim Education Committee, June 17, 2026

That absence of accountability drew immediate concern. State Sen. Courtney Neron Misslin, D-Wilsonville, requested a follow-up meeting specifically to get more clarity on what the new framework would require of districts and families.

The Legislative Path Forward

Senate Bill 315, passed during the 2025 legislative session, required the ODE to submit this report by May 31, 2026. Lawmakers cannot act on the recommendations until the 2027 legislative session. Nothing in the report becomes law automatically. The State Board of Education would draft any replacement statutes before the legislature votes.

What You Can Do Now

  1. Call the Oregon Senate Interim Education Committee at (503) 986-1000 and ask members to require a specific accountability framework before any repeal moves forward. Tell them: attendance laws without enforcement mechanisms leave districts with no obligation to act.

  2. Contact your Oregon state senator at oregonlegislature.gov/findyourlegislator and ask them to oppose any repeal of compulsory attendance statutes that does not include measurable district-level benchmarks and clear consequences for failure to improve.

  3. Submit public comment to the Oregon State Board of Education, which would write replacement statutes. Email the board through ode.oregon.gov/about/board and ask for a transparent public drafting process that includes input from parents, teachers, and students before the 2027 session.

  4. Contact the Oregon Department of Education directly at ode.oregon.gov and ask them to publish a public timeline for the statute-drafting process and post draft language for public comment before it goes to the legislature.

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