New MDE Guidance: Students with Attendance Issues and Child Find Obligations

The Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education, released new guidance in August 2025 regarding providing attendance support to students with disabilities.  This guidance emphasizes that areas involving attendance may impede students with disabilities access to education.  Specifically, special education students served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) experience higher rates of chronic absenteeism.

Generally, the Michigan Revised School Code requires students between 6-18 years of age to attend school regularly.  MCL 380.1561.  School districts are responsible for enforcing this attendance requirement and have the authority to adopt attendance policies addressing absences.

When a student is chronically absent, this may be a reason to suspect that a student has a disability.  As a brief reminder, IDEA’s Child Find provisions require school districts to maintain and engage in procedures for identifying, evaluating, and placing students suspected of having a disability and every qualified person with a disability residing in a school district’s boundaries who is not receiving a public education.  34 CFR 300.111.

For students with an Individualized Education Program (“IEP”), attendance issues pose a barrier to making progress in the curriculum and achieving IEP goals and objectives.  If an IEP student is chronically absent, the student’s IEP Team should examine if the chronic absences are related to the student’s disability.  If so, the Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (“PLAFFP”) section of the student’s IEP should include details regarding the disability related impacts on the student’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum and how the student will receive services during periods of extended absences.  Determining that a student’s absences are related to their disability may also lead to consideration of a functional behavioral assessment (“FBA”) or a behavior intervention plan (“BIP”) for the student.

While many factors may contribute to a student’s chronic absenteeism, in order to comply with IDEA’s Child Find obligations, it is crucial for school districts to consider whether a student’s chronic absenteeism may be a reason to suspect the student has a disability or, if a disability is known, consider modifying existing services to support the student in consideration of their absenteeism.

If you have any questions or would like guidance, please contact the Education Practice Group at Miller Johnson.