Correction (June 4, 2026): District-level enrollment and chronic absence counts in this article were corrected after a data processing error that double-counted each district's enrollment was identified. The corrected count of districts at an all-time high is 7 (previously reported as 55), and the count worsening in consecutive years is 8 (previously 46). Chronic absence rates were not affected.

North Carolina's statewide chronic absenteeism rate improved for the second consecutive year in 2023-24, dropping to 25.0% from a 31.2% peak. The improvement is genuine. It is also incomplete: 7 districts recorded their worst-ever chronic absence rates in the same year the state was getting better.

The counter-trend is not confined to tiny districts that might be explained away by small-sample volatility. Rowan County Schools, with 19,008 students, hit an all-time high of 34.9%. Warren County Schools, with 1,718 students, reached 53.9%, meaning more than half its students missed at least 18 days. And 8 districts worsened in both 2022-23 and 2023-24, meaning their rates have risen in every year while the state was recovering.

The districts the recovery missed

The 7 districts at all-time highs span a wide range of rates, from about 26% to nearly 54%. The list runs from very small systems, where a handful of absences can swing the rate, to one of the larger districts in the state. Warren County leads at 53.9% with 1,718 students. Rowan County, at 34.9% with 19,008 students, is the largest district on the list and shows that the pattern is not limited to small rural systems. Macon County (28.9%, 4,594 students), Beaufort County (25.6%, 5,874 students), and Bladen County (4,098 students, 27.1%) round out the mid-sized members, alongside the smaller Chowan County (29.8%) and Whiteville City (28.5%).

These districts are spread across the state, from Warren County in the northeast to Macon County in the far western mountains, rather than clustered in a single region. Several sit in rural, lower-income parts of the state where poverty, limited healthcare access, and sparse public transportation are long-standing barriers to attendance. That they are hitting record chronic absence rates while the state improves suggests the recovery benefits are not reaching the communities that need them most.

Getting worse while the state gets better

The 8 districts that worsened in both 2022-23 and 2023-24 are particularly concerning. These are not districts that peaked in 2022 and failed to recover. They are districts whose chronic rates have risen in two consecutive years during a period of statewide improvement. They are moving in the opposite direction from the state. Six of them, including Rowan, Macon, Beaufort, and Bladen counties, also sit on the all-time-high list, meaning their two-year climb carried them straight to a record.

The divergence between state-level improvement and district-level deterioration raises a structural question. If the statewide rate can drop 6 points from peak while a set of districts hit record highs, it means the improvement is concentrated in a subset of districts, particularly the large ones whose sheer size drives the state average. A few thousand fewer chronically absent students in CMS or Wake County can mask the fact that some smaller districts are getting worse.

For a superintendent in Warren County watching the rate climb to 53.9%, the statewide improvement is irrelevant. The AttendNC Counts initiative's statewide messaging may not reach the communities where attendance barriers are deepest. The question is whether the state can direct resources to the districts that are getting worse, not just celebrate the aggregate number getting better.

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