Correction (September 23, 2026): This article was updated after the latest package output changed the comparison set from 139 to 140 districts. The revised count is 36 recovered districts and 104 that remain above their 2019 baseline.

Five years after COVID-19 disrupted school attendance across Louisiana, roughly three out of four districts still hadn't made it back to where they started in the latest published 2024-25 data.

Of the 140 districts with chronic absenteeism data for both 2019 and 2025, just 36 (or 25.7%) have rates at or below their pre-pandemic levels. The other 104 districts remain above their 2019 baselines.

The state as a whole recorded a 22.5% chronic absenteeism rate in 2024-25, still 4.9 percentage points above its 2019 rate of 17.6%.

The districts that fell furthest behind

The widest gaps between the 2019 and 2024-25 rates appear among a mix of charter, alternative, and parish systems.

The Institute for Academic Excellence went from 2.4% chronic absenteeism in 2019 to 48.9% in 2024-25, a 46.5 percentage point increase. New Harmony High Institute jumped from 2.6% to 29.0%. Crescent City Schools climbed from 25.5% to 49.5%.

Among traditional parishes, Winn Parish^↗ET stands out with the largest excess: 24.3% before COVID, 40.8% in 2024-25, a 16.5-point gap. Caddo Parish^↗ET went from 19.0% to 31.0%, adding 12 percentage points. East Baton Rouge Parish^↗ET is 10.2 points above its pre-pandemic rate.

A lopsided distribution

Looking at how parishes cluster relative to their pre-COVID baselines, the plurality sit in the 1-to-5 percentage point excess range. Twenty-eight parishes fall in that bucket, while seven are at least 10 points above their 2019 rate.

Among the 36 districts that beat their 2019 rates, Einstein Charter at Village De L'Est posted the largest decline, from 22.0% to 0.0%. Southern University Lab School dropped from 13.0% to 6.7%.

The gap between worst and best

The 15 parishes furthest from recovery show the largest measured gaps between their 2019 and 2024-25 rates. Several were already above the state average in 2019 and remained above that baseline in 2024-25.

The statewide series rose from 17.6% in 2019 to 28.2% in 2021, fell to 19.9% in 2022, then rose to 24.6% in 2024 before improving to 22.5% in 2024-25. The latest improvement was 2.1 percentage points.

What recovery would require

The state remains 4.9 percentage points above its 2019 baseline after the 2.1-point improvement in 2024-25.

For the 104 districts still above their baselines, the latest published data show that recovery was uneven across systems.

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