Potomac-area families head into the new school year with a statewide push to get more students to class every day, after Maryland officials announced Thursday, Sept. 10, that the state's chronic absenteeism rate fell to 22.8%.

The rate, which measures students missing 10% or more of school days, peaked at 30.9% in the 2021-22 school year. The 2024-25 figure represents a 2.2-percentage-point drop from the prior year alone and an 8.1-point decline over four years.

How does Montgomery County compare? The state has not released district-level data from the 2024-25 school year. As of December 2025, roughly 15% of MCPS students were considered chronically absent during the current school year, according to The Banner's earlier reporting. That mid-year snapshot is not directly comparable to the statewide annual rate. MCPS has not publicly responded to the new campaign.

State Superintendent Carey Wright unveiled the attendance effort, called "Maryland Shows Up," at a press conference at Sudbrook Magnet Middle School in Pikesville, as The Banner first reported. She was joined by Maryland State Board of Education President Joshua Michael and Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Bill Heiser.

The campaign will promote daily attendance through billboards, radio spots and public transit advertisements, along with targeted efforts inside individual schools. State officials have set a goal of bringing the statewide rate to 15%.

"The Disney cruise is cheaper the first week of December," Michael said at the press conference. "Sometimes we have to make sacrifices as adults to show children that being in school as many of the 180 days as you can as possible is important."

Wright pointed to schools that have already made sharp gains. Sudbrook Magnet Middle cut its chronic absenteeism rate from 22% to 6% over four years, according to Principal Gordon Webb. Martin Boulevard Elementary School in Middle River dropped from 24% to 18% in one year.

Webb said he meets with a team every other week to identify students who are chronically absent or at risk. Barriers his students face include lack of transportation and having to care for younger siblings. Wright encouraged educators to dig into the specific reasons students miss school, describing one principal who discovered a student's barrier and bought an umbrella to solve it.

State education officials also reported that chronically absent students during the 2023-24 school year were less likely to score proficient on standardized tests than students who attended regularly.

The MCPS Board of Education's next business meeting is Thursday, Sept. 24, at 4 p.m.