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Iowa | I’ve got 4 kids. Wife works at the school so between those I have some insight that some on here don’t have. One of the things I think is missing is the number of handicapped kids - same school as I graduated from 50-70 kids/grade, in 02 when I graduated we would have 1-2 kids with disabilities in a 4 year group (high school, middle school, elementary). Today that same school will have 3-4 kids with needs/grade. My son is one of them - so with that comes a lot of days where they do not go, or have a Dr appointment, or a medical issue where it wouldn’t be good to be at school. Some of these kids have surgeries or med changes where they are pulled out for a week or two straight. My son was on the chronic absent list this last qtr - he has spina bifda. So I think this is part of the issue- public schools are taking in (good thing) more handicapped and disabled kids, so those numbers will be higher. Now there also is a problem with parents who just don’t care. And couple that with the newer post Covid idea of keeping kids home with bad colds and it’s easy to see where the numbers get higher. But I’d guess at least 1/2 of that is kids with disabilities that 20 years ago would be in a group home. Is it a problem - yes, but it’s not as bad as what the numbers would suggest. Quick search shows about 9% of all kids in Iowa schools have an IEP -this is a higher level of physical or mental assistance than the “special ed” stuff we used to have 20 years ago. And honestly anyone who looks at the numbers it makes a person wonder about some of these things RFK is talking about is legit. And maybe we’re just in a transitional period where better medicine keeps these cases alive vs dead 20 years ago.
Now the others side of this is the good - lots of these kids 20-40 years ago were basically never educated and assumed to be in a group home. Today the majority of them will be able to function on their own in the real world.
Am I saying absenteeism isn’t a problem ? No, I’m just saying the number you see is probably significantly higher than the actual number of dead beat kids/parents.
Edited by timis 3/21/2026 10:50
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Chronic absenteeism in local schools
