BATON ROUGE - A new analysis from the Public Affairs Research Council shows a disturbing trend when it comes to truancy in Louisiana schools.

The study says truancy has spiked to about 40 percent since the pandemic, which is well above previous averages. The state defines Truancy as five or more unexcused absences in a semester.

Source: Louisiana Department of Education 

PARC says there was previously a spike in truancy during the 2012-2018 school year, before falling back down until the 2020-2021 school year.

Pointe Coupee Parish tops the list of school systems with the highest truancy rates, with about 66 percent, while Ascension Parish has the lowest, sitting around 21 percent.