I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4220 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow 

local educational agencies to use Federal funds for programs and activities that address chronic absenteeism. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 30, 2019 

Mr. RYAN (for himself and Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to allow local educational agencies to use Federal 

funds for programs and activities that address chronic 

absenteeism. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chronic Absenteeism 

5 Reduction in Every School (CARES) Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Students who are chronically absent— 

2 meaning they miss 10 percent or more of the school 

3 year—are more likely to fall behind academically, 

4 which can lead to hardships later in life. These stu5 dents are 68 percent less likely than their peers to 

6 graduate. This leaves them prone to living in pov7 erty, suffering from diminished health, and being in8 volved in the criminal justice system later in life. 

9 (2) The Department of Education’s Office of 

10 Civil Rights Data Collection found that over 

11 7,000,000 students were chronically absent during 

12 the 2015–2016 school year. This makes up 14 per13 cent of all students. 

14 (3) Students of color are disproportionately 

15 chronically absent compared to their White peers. 

16 Latino students are 17 percent more likely to be 

17 chronically absent, African-American students are 

18 40 percent more likely, and American Indian and 

19 Pacific Islander students are over 50 percent more 

20 likely, according to the Department of Education’s 

21 Office of Civil Rights Data Collection. 

22 (4) The Department of Education has found 

23 that chronic absenteeism is widespread, stemming 

24 from a wide range of often overlapping internal and 

25 external factors. External factors include homelessVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:25 Aug 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4220.IH H4220

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1 ness, challenges within families, and transportation; 

2 while internal factors include health, fear of bullying, 

3 concern for safety, and not valuing daily school at4 tendance. Therefore, it is critical to have cross-sector 

5 collaborations and multifaceted strategies that incor6 porate parents (or guardians, as appropriate), pub7 lic-partner partnerships, and community partners. 

8 (5) Studies have shown that mentors can help 

9 reduce chronic absenteeism. Students who regularly 

10 meet with mentors are 52 percent less likely than 

11 their peers to skip a day of school and 37 percent 

12 less likely to skip a class. In one program, previously 

13 chronically absent students in 2012–2013 with 

14 ‘‘Success Mentors’’ gained 51,562 additional days of 

15 school compared to previously chronically absent stu16 dents without mentors at comparison schools; and 

17 92,277 additional days compared to comparison 

18 school students without mentors during the 3-year 

19 initiative. A report on the impact of one mentoring 

20 program found that it reduced school absenteeism by 

21 half. In another study, youth showed a gain of more 

22 than a week of class attendance. 


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1 SEC. 3. INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS CHRONIC ABSENTEE2 ISM. 

3 Section 4108(5) of the Elementary and Secondary 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7118(5)) is amended— 

5 (1) in subparagraph (H)(iii) by striking ‘‘or’’ at 

6 the end; 

7 (2) in subparagraph (I), by striking the period 

8 at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

9 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(J) interventions for students who miss 

11 10 percent or more of school days (as deter12 mined at any time during a school year), which 

13 may include— 

14 ‘‘(i) implementing data collection sys15 tems that assist schools in collecting and 

16 tracking attendance data; 

17 ‘‘(ii) creating data-sharing and con18 fidentiality agreements between schools, so19 cial service agencies, city and county gov20 ernments, and partner agencies or commu21 nity organizations working with students; 

22 ‘‘(iii) partnering with local health, 

23 transportation, and service providers to 

24 target intervention efforts; 

25 ‘‘(iv) training and integrating school 

26 personnel for mentoring; 


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1 ‘‘(v) carrying out mentoring programs 

2 that— 

3 ‘‘(I) are structured, managed, 

4 and appropriately match students 

5 with screened and well-trained adult 

6 volunteers for group and one-on-one 

7 mentoring relationships; 

8 ‘‘(II) encourage mentors and stu9 dents to meet frequently; 

10 ‘‘(III) emphasize the importance 

11 of regular school attendance; and 

12 ‘‘(IV) provide and facilitate the 

13 necessary student support services; 

14 ‘‘(vi) partnering with community orga15 nizations that offer mentoring services that 

16 consist of— 

17 ‘‘(I) screening and training of 

18 adult volunteers; 

19 ‘‘(II) matching students with the 

20 appropriate adult volunteer mentors; 

21 ‘‘(III) support and oversight of 

22 the mentoring relationship; 

23 ‘‘(IV) establishing goals and eval24 uation of outcomes for mentored stu25 dents; and 


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1 ‘‘(V) planned and ongoing coordi2 nation between mentors and school 

3 personnel to identify individual stu4 dent challenges causing chronic absen5 teeism in an effort to connect mentees 

6 to appropriate intervention efforts; 

7 ‘‘(vii) cross-age peer mentoring pro8 grams under which an older student serves 

9 a mentor for a younger student for the 

10 purpose of guiding and supporting the stu11 dent’s academic, social, and emotional de12 velopment; 

13 ‘‘(viii) identifying issues that lead to 

14 school absences; 

15 ‘‘(ix) meeting with students and par16 ents (or guardians, as appropriate) to en17 gage students and improve performance; 

18 ‘‘(x) arranging for teacher home visits 

19 to develop relationships among students, 

20 parents (or guardians, as appropriate) and 

21 schools; 

22 ‘‘(xi) connecting students to existing 

23 school resources and activities, including 

24 school counseling services and existing 

25 community-based organizations; 


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1 ‘‘(xii) using mentors to serve as a 

2 bridge between students, parents (or 

3 guardians, as appropriate), and schools; 

4 ‘‘(xiii) implementing evidence-based 

5 restorative justice strategies aimed at re6 ducing suspensions in order to keep stu7 dents in school; or 

8 ‘‘(xiv) providing personnel training to 

9 build positive school climates and promote 

10 social-emotional learning.’’. 

Æ 


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