In the 2021-22 school year, CCISD reported a chronic absence rate of 39%. The district’s latest report shows that number has dropped to 22.7% for the 2025-26 year.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi Independent School District is seeing improvement in student attendance after implementing new tools and reinforcing existing policies.
District officials say new communication programs are making it easier for campuses to connect directly with parents about student absences.
Ronald Kanipes, CCISD’s director of admissions and attendance, said one of the new features allows schools to send secure text messages to families regarding absences.
“It’s two-way communication. So say, they could send you a text message about your kid saying that he missed school today. And then you can respond back saying why he missed and you can take a picture of your doctor’s excuse and send it back to the school,” he said.
The district has seen significant improvement in chronic absenteeism. In the 2021-22 school year, CCISD reported a chronic absence rate of 39%. The district’s latest report shows that number has dropped to 22.7% for the 2025-26 school year.
Kanipes said stricter enforcement of attendance requirements has also played a role.
“They have to be in the classroom 90 percent of the time or you don’t receive credit for the class. It’s not something where you can consistently miss school because they think, ‘Well, I can just make that up on Saturday or I can just do this or that.’ So we’re tracking that pretty closely,” he said.
While attendance numbers are improving, district officials say they have also seen a slight increase in out-of-school suspensions.
Kanipes attributes that increase to House Bill 6, a state law that gives schools more authority to remove disruptive students from campus.
“The ability for kids that were below grade three or kids that are designated as homeless, it was really tight in suspending students in that regard,” he said.
Kanipes said the district currently has 512 students identified as homeless and that disciplinary decisions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
“Significantly disrupting the classroom or at risk of hurting other people in the classroom, so the district is allowed to suspend those students. So that’s why we might see an increase in OSS for those below third grade,” he said.
CCISD board member Alice Upshaw Hawkins said she has personally seen the impact of the district’s attendance efforts.
“I talked to one principal and he said that they’ve finally been able to break 90 percent attendance and they were ecstatic about it,” she said.
However, Hawkins said improving attendance also depends on support at home.
“The parents who work two jobs, three jobs, sometimes. They leave early in the morning and sometimes they’re not there to get the kids up,” she said.