On Tuesday, Minnesota lawmakers will be hearing several bills aimed to address chronic absenteeism in the state’s schools.

Lawmakers say chronic absenteeism is when students miss at least 10% of their classes and it’s becoming a widespread issue within Minnesota’s public schools.

According to lawmakers, class attendance has been trending in the right direction, with a 5% increase in attendance from 2022. However, they also report 36% of Minnesota students living in poverty have been chronically absent.

The House Education Committee will look at five bills designed to help students stay in school and stop missing class.

Proposals include requiring schools to report the number of days a student was absent when submitting student state assessment results, promoting re-enrollment after a student withdraws, providing additional resources to parents and setting guidelines to govern student attendance.

The committee will learn more about the bills during their meeting at 3 p.m.