Ohioans deserve public schools in which students are educated to be informed, productive, critical thinking citizens ready to pursue the next step in their career or educational paths with confidence. Our children deserve more than barely meeting the lowest of standards on that front.

But what about kids who aren’t making it to school at all? Think of how much more we are letting them down.

According to data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, public school students in the state have an approximately 25.6% rate of chronic absenteeism. It is a problem to which many factors contribute: family circumstances — including being asked to get a job to help support the family or being asked to stay home and care for younger siblings so a parent can get a job, bullying, physical or mental health concerns, transportation … those are just the start.

Frankly, we are failing these kids on many fronts. An Ohio Capital Journal reporter spoke with Adero Robinson, CEO of Communities in Schools of Ohio.

“The mental health of students is becoming a lot more challenging to manage,” Robinson said. “That’s why we have to think about how do we find ways to deal with depression, anxiety, cell phones and social media, those types of things.”

Politicians understand the need and are ready with lots of ideas. Some better than others. In fact, last year, two lawmakers were so desperate to solve the problem they pitched a bill that would have paid students to show up at school.

As Robinson told the Capital Journal, more funding to improve student wellbeing is always welcome, but such a payment program would simply not have been sustainable. Instead, Robinson recommended a more wide-reaching approach — perhaps an expansion of the work done by Communities in Schools to more districts.

“I think that the programs that have access to schools and teachers and parents and counselors … that holistic opportunity is a better investment that’s measurable,” Robinson said.

Perhaps. Whatever the solution, school districts and policymakers must be working toward getting more of these kids regularly in classrooms. Those of you huffing and grumping that the solution is simple, and we must do nothing more than enforce getting students’ backsides in the seats each day might want to take another look at the differences between the range of challenges many Ohio students face (cell phones, social media, a pandemic, poverty, families in which there is substance abuse and perhaps law enforcement involvement … you get the idea) that are very different from what you remember experiencing as a child who had no trouble getting to school.

It’s possible once we get past “back in my day” thinking and instead focus on what students need to get to school and succeed NOW, we’ll make progress more quickly than we think.