Every morning a student shows up to class, it means one more opportunity to learn and one less hit to district funding. 

In Coeur d'Alene, that message appears to be resonating: chronic absenteeism plunged after a districtwide push to get kids back in school.

“A lot of our families had no idea that by taking their child out in the middle of the day they were impacting our funding,” said Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Mike Nelson. “If you take the noon appointment, you are removing $20 from the school district," Nelson said.

Superintendent Shon Hocker previously reported an 18.6% chronic absenteeism rate in 2024 in the Coeur d’Alene School District. Nelson said that rate was 20.7% in 2025. 

However, a range of programs successfully implemented in 2025-26 brought the new rate of chronic absenteeism in Coeur d’Alene schools to 1%.

If a student misses 10% or more of school days or class periods in a school year, they are considered chronically absent. 

Hocker previously said the school district loses about $45 for each student who is absent for an entire day and about $20 for a student who is absent half of the day, with a total $4.8 million lost in 2024 due to absenteeism. 

He said the Coeur d’Alene Schools’ rate of chronic absenteeism in 2024 was higher than the state average of 15%. 

“We thought it doesn’t represent us well at all,” said Nelson. “If a student is present they have a greater chance to be able to learn.”

The data on absenteeism comes from the schools’ daily attendance logs, which are reported to the State Department of Education each month. 

When examining the chronic absenteeism rate in 2024, Nelson said the high rate was a mixed result of actual absences along with discrepancies in the way the absences were recorded. 

“We started looking at the systems level,” said Nelson. “There were so many codes, and they were all being used in different ways.”

To improve the district’s chronic absenteeism rate, Nelson said the district improved its system for recording absences and raised awareness with students and families about reducing absenteeism. The district also implemented the Self-Directed Learner Program to help absent students keep up with schoolwork while away from the classroom. 

In the 2025-26 school year, the district informed families about the importance of reducing absenteeism through social media and family newsletters. 

The district’s methods for tackling absenteeism varied by school, with some implementing incentive programs such as yard signs for students with perfect attendance and weekly attendance competitions between grades.