38 Arizona Districts Hit Four-Year Chronic Absence Highs in 2024-25

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Department of Education defines chronic absenteeism as missing one-tenth or more of school.

In Arizona, the statewide chronic absenteeism rate ticked down from 24.4% to 23.8% in 2024-25. But behind that average, 38 of 417 comparable districts - 9.1% - recorded their highest chronic absenteeism rate in the 2022-2025 district data available from azschooldata.

These are not statewide trend lines. They are districts where the package data shows 2024-25 was worse than 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Where The Highs Are

By rate, the five highest districts in the four-year-high group were Vernon Elementary^↗ at 52.5%, Synergy Public School^↗ at 51.8%, McNeal Elementary^↗ at 51.5%, EAGLE South Mountain Charter^↗ at 48.2% and Triumphant Learning Center^↗ at 43.0%.

The next tier includes Yucca Elementary^↗ at 42.9%, South Valley Academy^↗ at 39.0%, Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy^↗ at 38.3%, Sentinel Elementary^↗ at 37.5% and Pensar Academy^↗ at 36.4%.

The district names show a mixed group of small elementary districts, public-school operators and academy networks. That sector mix is unresourced context: the absence file does not include a structural charter flag, so this article does not make a charter-sector count. The direct evidence is each district's four-year rate trend.

The Split

The 38 districts sit on the wrong side of Arizona's attendance recovery. In the same four-year comparable universe, 106 districts lowered their chronic absenteeism rate every year from 2022 through 2025. A broader 329 of 417 districts - 78.9% - had a lower rate in 2025 than in 2022.

That is the split the statewide average hides. Most comparable districts are below their 2022 rate. A smaller group ended the four-year window at its highest point.

Worse Than The Peak Year

The district window starts in 2022, the year Arizona's statewide chronic absenteeism rate reached 32.0% - the highest state-level rate in the package's 2018-2025 series. Every district in the 38-district group had a 2025 rate above its own 2022 rate.

The mechanism is unresourced here. The data can show that these districts moved in the wrong direction while the state average improved slightly; it does not show whether transportation, staffing, health, housing, program model or local policy explains any individual district's rate.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.

Yucca Elementary - EdTribune AZ - Arizona Education Data

38 Arizona Districts Hit Four-Year Chronic Absence Highs in 2024-25

Where The Highs Are

The Split

Worse Than The Peak Year