Education data coverage for Cooperstown Central School District. Data-driven education journalism for New York. Every number verified against state DOE data.https://ny.edtribune.com/en-usEdTribune 2026https://ny.edtribune.com/ny/2026-07-23-ny-district-absence-gap/https://ny.edtribune.com/ny/2026-07-23-ny-district-absence-gap/Among 571 New York districts with at least 500 students in both 2018-19 and 2023-24, only 17 had a chronic absenteeism rate at or below their 2019 rate in 2024. That was 3.0% of the fixed district uni...Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT<p>Among 571 New York districts with at least 500 students in both 2018-19 and 2023-24, only 17 had a chronic absenteeism rate at or below their 2019 rate in 2024. That was 3.0% of the fixed district universe. The other 554 districts, or 97.0%, remained above their 2019 rate.</p> <p><img src="https://edtribune.com/ny/img/2026-07-23-ny-district-absence-gap-scatter.png" alt="Only 17 of 571 sizable districts were at or below their 2019 rate." /></p> <h2>The statewide rate improved from its peak</h2> <p>New York's statewide chronic absenteeism rate was 18.7% in 2019, reached 31.7% in 2022, and fell to 26.2% in 2024. The 2024 rate remained 7.5 percentage points above 2019.</p> <p>In 2024, the state reported 560,679 chronically absent students among 2,141,093 enrolled students.</p> <p>At the district level, the median change was an increase of 6.7 points. A total of 124 districts were at least 10 percentage points above their 2019 rate.</p> <p><img src="https://edtribune.com/ny/img/2026-07-23-ny-district-absence-gap-distribution.png" alt="The median district remained 6.7 points above its 2019 rate." /></p> <h2>The 17 districts at or below 2019</h2> <p><a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/cooperstown" class="district-link">Cooperstown Central School District^↗</a> fell from 25.3% in 2019 to 16.4% in 2024, an 8.9-point decline. <a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/oceanside" class="district-link">Oceanside Union Free School District^↗</a> fell from 5.0% to 0.3%; the 2024 file reported 16 chronically absent students among 4,962 enrolled students.</p> <p><a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/mount-vernon" class="district-link">Mount Vernon City School District^↗</a> fell from 25.9% to 24.5%. It was the only recovered district with at least 5,000 students in 2024.</p> <h2>Large-district increases</h2> <p>Among districts with at least 5,000 students in 2024, <a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/yonkers" class="district-link">Yonkers^↗</a> had the largest increase, from 19.7% to 44.8%, or 25.1 points. <a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/buffalo" class="district-link">Buffalo^↗</a> rose from 41.1% to 65.5%, a 24.4-point increase. <a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/utica" class="district-link">Utica^↗</a> rose from 25.5% to 44.5%, up 19.0 points, and <a href="https://edtribune.com/ny/districts/rochester" class="district-link">Rochester^↗</a> rose from 44.7% to 63.1%, up 18.4 points.</p> <p><img src="https://edtribune.com/ny/img/2026-07-23-ny-district-absence-gap-worst.png" alt="Large New York districts with the largest increases from 2019." /></p> <h2>What the data does not establish</h2> <p>The files establish the fixed-universe comparison, statewide trend, and district rates. They do not identify which policy, district practice, family condition, or pandemic-era change caused any district's result. Those mechanisms are <strong>unresourced</strong> here and have been removed from the earlier draft.</p> <p>Rates and counts come from New York State Education Department files.</p> <p><em>Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.</em></p>