The State of Mississippi requires that every child in the state abide by the Compulsory School Attendance law, and parents or legal guardians have the responsibility for ensuring that students attend and remain at school daily.
In 2026, the state law related to school attendance was updated to provide new requirements for the number of school absences permitted, how absent students can participate in school activities, and the process for documenting, reporting and providing intervention for students who demonstrate chronic absenteeism. The State of Mississippi requires school districts to implement this new law for the 2026-2027 school year, and the Mississippi Department of Education has outlined requirements for documented intervention. Please review our Snapshot Overview of the new law's requirements below and click to learn more on our Attendance page.
A few key items to remember about the new law's requirements:
- Students must attend 66% of their individual instructional day in order to be counted present for the school day.
- Students may receive a total of 5 cumulative excused absences each semester. This includes both parental and medical excuses. Any additional absences must be approved by school administrators to be excused.
- School intervention must begin after 3 cumulative excused or unexcused absences. The first step is a parent contact.
- After 5 cumulative unexcused absences, a student will move into the state-required truancy process with a referral to the district's MDE-assigned School Attendance Officer.
School attendance matters for our students AND our district. The district's Average Daily Attendance (ADA) reached during the months of October and November determines much of our state funding for the entire year, and raising our ADA just a few percentage points can mean important increases in funds.
Beyond that, students can't learn and grow in academics, the arts, activities, and so many other areas if they are not in school to experience the excellent learning opportunities available. Missing even a couple of days each month can drastically impact a child's growth in key areas.
Although there are times when we know a student must be absent, the district is seeking parent cooperation and partnership as we work together to comply with this law and make sure our Yellow Jacket students are able to experience all the learning opportunities available across the district.
