Statistics on children, youth and families in Maine from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Maine Children's Alliance
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Why This Indicator Matters
Students who are chronically absent are less likely to read proficiently by third grade, more likely to fail in middle school and eventually drop out of high school. Chronic absence can be solved when schools, families, and communities work together to create a culture of attendance as early as preschool and kindergarten and regularly monitor progress and identify any barriers to getting to school. See Count ME In
What the data shows
The pandemic had an effect on chronic absenteeism that has continued even past hybrid education and quarantines. Chronic absentee rates peaked in 2022 at 28.4%. This rate has been slowly improving to now 24.4% in 2025. Among students who were economically disadvantaged, the rate decreased from 40.0% to 34.5%. For higher income students, it decreased from 22.2% to 15.7%. For the 2024-2025 school year, 40,980 students, more than half of whom come from families earning less than 185% of the federal poverty rate were chronically absent in Maine.
Definition and Source
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Definition
Chronic absenteeism is the number and percent of students in Maine who are chronically absent from school and this is disaggregated by whether the student's family is or is not economically disadvantaged. A student is defined as being chronically absent if the student is absent 10% or more of the days enrolled or for a typical school year at a rate which would lead to 18 or more absences, including both excused and unexcused absences. Economically disadvantaged refers to students who live in families whose income is 185% or below federal poverty levels. This was $59,477 for a family of four persons in 2025. The year 2025 refers to the school year from September 2024- June 2025.
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