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Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited the Cleveland Browns鈥� training facility earlier this month to join the NFL team in recognizing students with . She used the event to talk about one of the biggest challenges facing U.S. schools.

鈥淐hronic absenteeism is a problem across the country,鈥� a reporter.

But actions by the department she leads could leave the public without accurate information on whether schools are making any progress in getting kids back into the classroom, according to a from a federal watchdog agency.

The Department of Education this year suspended key efforts to closely track whether states are meeting education requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, including those related to chronic absenteeism, according to the . Those core department functions ensure that federal funds, particularly in schools serving the neediest students, are used properly.

鈥淏y significantly curtailing the scope of fiscal and programmatic monitoring, especially for Title I, given the size of the program relative to other ESEA programs, Education has left over $18 billion in federal funding at heightened risk for undetected waste, fraud, and abuse,鈥� GAO said. 

The department also uses a formula for calculating chronic absenteeism that produces unreliable data, only making it harder to 鈥渋dentify schools struggling the most,鈥� the report said. 

In a response to GAO, Kirsten Baesler, assistant secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, said officials still conduct some reviews of whether districts and schools follow the law and plan to announce a new monitoring system this fall. But she rejected two of the GAO鈥檚 three recommendations for resuming oversight and revising how the department collects chronic absenteeism rates.

鈥淲hile we were in a transition year and have not carried out consolidated monitoring, we continue to monitor across ESEA programs,鈥� she wrote. 

During its , the Education Department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights was the first to define a chronically absent student as one who misses at least 15 days of the school year. Then, the Every Student Succeeds Act, which passed in 2015, changed the definition to missing 10% of the school year. 

Most states now include chronic absenteeism as an indicator of school quality in their accountability systems. The department is supposed to monitor whether those states include the data, broken down by race and other categories, in their state report cards for the public. The agency is also required to collect chronic absenteeism data for all states. 

Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, asked GAO for the report, which shows that between 2019 and 2025, the department reviewed chronic absenteeism requirements in 26 states. 

That鈥檚 insufficient, said Nat Malkus, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who tracks chronic absenteeism and conducts research on strategies to improve it.

At the current pace, 鈥渟tates might expect a review once every 15 years,鈥� he said. Even if the department resumed monitoring, it 鈥渨on鈥檛 be transformative.鈥�

, like real-time dashboards, and early warning systems have been more effective at lowering rates than federal action 鈥渂y a mile,鈥� he said. 

Carl Felton III, a policy analyst at EdTrust, a left-leaning advocacy group, agreed that there was room to improve the federal monitoring process. 鈥淏ut to back off doesn鈥檛 put us in a better position to help students,鈥� he said. 

鈥�39 months older鈥�

Recent data from 44 states and the District of Columbia shows that 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2025. That鈥檚 a 1 percentage point improvement over the previous year, but overall, . Many districts, like , and , still struggle with rates of 30% or more.聽

Malkus has long been frustrated with the untimeliness of the federal data. , an Education Department website, has rates from 2022-23. 

鈥淭hat most recent data is 39 months older than the end of the school year, and counting,鈥� Malkus said. Even if the Trump administration wants to hand more authority over to states, he said an appropriate role for the federal government is to get data out earlier. 鈥淚 am two-plus years ahead of [the Education Department] without the leverage, or the responsibility, they carry.鈥�

The GAO report also noted that the department uses a formula that leads to some 鈥渙verstated and implausible chronic absenteeism rates.鈥� 

Before the Biden administration left office, staff began the process of revising the data it collects from states so it can report more accurate figures. But mass layoffs, including an 85% cut at the Institute of Education Sciences, disrupted those efforts. 

Baesler acknowledged the limitations, but said the department would stick with its method 鈥渞ather than imposing additional reporting burden on states.鈥� 

Malkus said that it wouldn鈥檛 be overly complex to fix the issue, but he found GAO鈥檚 concerns about waste, fraud and abuse to be 鈥渙verwrought.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 about compliance and following the law, with less effect on Title I,鈥� he said.

Felton, who previously led school climate improvement efforts in the Baltimore City schools, said even if there鈥檚 no intentional misuse of federal dollars, schools still need 鈥済uardrails鈥� so they鈥檙e not 鈥渢hrowing money at the coolest new thing.鈥� Accurate counts of which students miss the most days, he said, are necessary.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 solve problems that we can鈥檛 see,鈥� he said. 鈥淚neffective data is one of the barriers to getting our kids in school.鈥�

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