More than one in four students enrolled in government schools nationwide are now considered “chronically absent,” up from just 15 percent before the tyrannical response to COVID, revealed an analysis of data from almost 40 states.

Some jurisdictions such as Washington, D.C., have rates as high as 60 percent of students chronically absent, according to news reports. One government school in Massachusetts had a 98.9 percent rate of chronic absenteeism, meaning virtually every student missed at least 10 percent of school days.  

The news is sparking panic among “education” bureaucrats, many of whom are no doubt just as worried about their funding levels as they are about how many drag shows their captive victims might be missing. Officials everywhere are dreaming up new ways to force compliance.   

Ironically, though, most parents and caregivers of students who are chronically absent are not concerned about it, researchers from the University of Southern California revealed recently after conducting a large survey. Common reasons reported for missing school included oversleeping, wanting to stay home, and being bored or uninterested in school.

Apologists for the government education system claim the surge in chronic absenteeism is merely a result of “online schooling” used during the pandemic effectively making school seem “optional.” However, the data show that the rates of absenteeism are virtually the same in districts that closed for short or long periods of time.

In response to the supposed “crisis,” government officials are vowing to go after parents who do not force their children to attend the mandated indoctrination sessions. Last year in Connecticut, for example, the state department of education used federal (tax) COVID funds to dispatch bureaucrats to harass parents at their homes.  

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, meanwhile, who literally visited the brainwash camps of a mass-murdering communist dictatorship for ideas on how to “improve” D.C. schools, vowed to use various tools to ensure that parents hand over their children. “[My upcoming proposal] includes how we are able to hold parents accountable for the actions of their kids, and when I say that, that means require them to get the services that they need,” Bowser said.

“In our system right now, if they make a referral to [the Child and Family Services Agency] or to the courts or to the [Office of Attorney General], nothing happens,” Bowser continued as news of the absenteeism spread. “So they have then entered into an antagonistic relationship with the family to no good end. So we have to tighten up that system.”

At the federal level, the Biden White House announced an “all-hands-on-deck approach” to getting children back into regular attendance at their indoctrination centers. “A necessary step to ensure students benefit from all that schools have to offer is to support students’ consistent presence in the classroom—which is why the Biden-Harris Administration is focused on the issue of chronic absenteeism,” the White House said.

“Ensuring that all students benefit from the full scope of pandemic recovery efforts requires that they are present in schools,” the administration continued. Targeted interventions such as early warning systems, mailing outreach, and text nudges have shown promise in increasing attendance.”

In other words, more taxpayer-funded tracking and control over parents to ensure that children are getting their mandated brainwashing will be forthcoming.

As if to illustrate the importance of being in government school all the time, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona released a video on Resurrection Sunday — dubbed “Transgender Day of Visibility” by the regime — encouraging and celebrating gender confusion among brainwashed children. Congressman Thomas Massie blasted the video for “normalizing castration for children” and again called for shutting down the department.  

One critic of government schools told The Newman Report that students were simply making understandable choices. Marty Gottesfeld, a human rights activist and computer engineer who was imprisoned for protecting a child from government abuse, ridiculed the New York Times for failing to consider that obvious hypothesis explaining the absenteeism.   

“Teacher and class quality in the public schools is near or at an historic low; students today perceive very little value in the public-schools, and, as rational persons with agency, they choose not to waste a significant portion of their time to participate,” he said in an email commenting on the Times report.

Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

Responding to an article from the Associated Press which insisted children need to be “protected from parents,” Ken Ham, Founder and CEO of Answers In Genesis, warned that “parents are increasingly being treated as the enemy” and children, as a result, are being left defenseless.

“Our culture increasingly sees children as belonging to the government, to the public schools, and to their communities—not as being given to their parents by God,” Ham stressed. “[Parents] have the duty to protect their children from wolves who would devour them with false ideologies.”

“Parents are the first line of defense against those who would hurt their children,” he underscored. “And that’s exactly why activists (and, ultimately, our enemy Satan) want parents viewed with suspicion and painted as the ‘bad guys.’”

“Parents, more than ever, need to step up and be proactive in protecting their children from the lies of the enemy,” Ham implored. “Parents, don’t let the government scare, shame, or indoctrinate you into rejecting your God-given role to protect, shepherd, and disciple your children.”