Students who miss at least 10 percent of the school year are chronically absent and in danger of dropping out. It’s a statewide problem most acute in rural areas.
A window into Northern California's Butte County, where geography and family trauma often keep students from school. The problem has been magnified by the wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise.
View EdSource's interactive map showing the chronic absenteeism rates for school districts across California. The highest rates - higher than 10 percent - are clustered in rural areas.
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris championed tough-on-truancy laws while serving as San Francisco’s district attorney and California attorney general. Now she's taking heat for it on the campaign trail.
A 2010 video clip of California senator and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris advocating the prosecution of parents for their children's truancy has re-ignited controversy as schools statewide face greater scrutiny for their rates of chronic absenteeism.