Texas principals race to stop tardiness before it becomes chronic absenteeism

New survey data from Minga shows tardiness is the top behavior problem for Texas secondary principals as Senate Bill 991 makes chronic absenteeism a legal and financial risk. For a 1,000-student campus, the attendance gap between 90% and 95% can equal about $310,000 in state funding.

Why it matters: - Texas schools now face a direct financial hit when students miss too much class under Senate Bill 991. - A 1,000-student campus could lose about $310,000 a year if attendance slips from 95% to 90%. - Principals are being pushed to spot early warning signs before absences become chronic and trigger mandatory intervention.

What happened: - Minga surveyed Texas secondary school principals at the TASSP Summer Workshop 2026. - Tardiness ranked as the top student behavior challenge. - Attendance ranked second. - Hallway loitering followed closely behind. - Across four national conferences in 2026, attendance and tardiness led the conversation nationwide.

The details: - Texas public schools are entering the 2026-27 year after an enrollment drop of more than 76,000 students in 2025-26, the largest non-pandemic decline in recorded state history. - SB 991 requires mandatory intervention for chronic absenteeism. - Texas’ basic allotment is $6,215 per student, tying funding directly to attendance. - More than double the responses for tardiness and attendance came in compared with every other behavior category combined in the TASSP survey. - A national survey of school leaders found 37% said their biggest tardy challenge was the lack of a consistent tardy policy. - Nearly half of Texas principals in the TASSP survey described their approach as prevention-focused. - Prevention depends on consistency, and consistency depends on systems rather than spreadsheets. - Minga is used by more than 2,500 schools nationwide.

Between the lines: - The attendance problem is showing up first as a punctuality problem, not just a truancy problem. - The data suggests schools often see the warning signs in hallways and tardy logs before they appear in absence records. - SB 991 turns a long-standing culture issue into a compliance issue for districts. - Schools with uneven classroom-level rules may be making it easier for students to drift into chronic absenteeism.

What's next: - Texas principals will need tighter systems to identify students trending toward chronic absenteeism earlier. - Schools that standardize tardy policies and monitor behavior patterns may be better positioned to protect both attendance and funding. - Minga says campuses that act on these signals can better retain students, preserve funding and strengthen school culture.

The bottom line: - In Texas, tardies are no longer just a discipline issue. They are a funding and compliance warning sign that schools can no longer afford to miss. - At Midland Lee High School, Principal Chris Bryant said a consistent policy replaced a Google Sheet system that delayed intervention until a student hit three tardies to one teacher. - After the change, Bryant said the school had zero tardies after lunch and students began buying into the system because they could also earn recognition for good behavior. - At Mustang High School in Oklahoma, Head Principal Dr. Kathy Knowles said improving hallways and tardies changed the campus culture and got students to class more reliably. - Minga CEO Jason Richards said tardies and hallway loitering are leading indicators of absenteeism, and the warning signs appear before the absence data catches up. - Minga describes itself as an educational partner and unified platform designed to help K-12 schools streamline operations and protect instructional time. - More information is available at minga.io.