New California Truancy Report: Absentees Cost State Billions

Absentee elementary school students cost California 1.4 billion dollars last year, according to a new truancy report released by the state Attorney General's office Monday. Associated costs including lost productivity, lost taxes and incarceration, add up to more than 46 billion dollars.

The report claims one million elementary school students in California were truant in the 2011-2012 school year. The state defines a truant as a student who is absent or 30 minutes late at least three times during the school year, without a valid reason.

Pasadena Unified School District has the highest truancy rates in Los Angeles County. In 2012, in three of the district's elementary schools, more than 90 percent of the students were truant. Pasadena Unified School District representatives had no comment.

This is California's first state-wide truancy report.