The U.S. Government Accountability Office has issued a report warning that billions of dollars in K-12 education funding face increased risks of waste, fraud, and abuse. The federal watchdog agency cited the suspension of comprehensive monitoring by the Department of Education as the primary cause for concern.
Federal officials halted the consolidated review process for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) requirements earlier this year while developing a new compliance approach. As of August, the department had not provided a timeline for resuming these reviews or detailed alternative methods for ensuring state compliance.
Monitoring Gap Leaves States Unchecked
The GAO report noted that the suspension prevents the Education Department from systematically assessing whether states are following their approved plans and meeting federal requirements. Consolidated monitoring was fully implemented in 2019, but half of all states remain unmonitored for reporting requirements that apply to every state.
The financial stakes are significant. Title I funding, which supports students from low-income families, constitutes about two-thirds of the nearly $27 billion in total ESEA funding allocated in 2025. States receiving these funds must develop statewide accountability systems and report data on chronic absenteeism.
“As a result of suspending consolidated monitoring, Education will not be able to systematically assess whether states are complying with ESEA requirements and following their approved state plans,” the report said.
Data Reliability Issues in Absenteeism Reporting
Beyond the lack of oversight, the GAO identified serious flaws in how federal absenteeism data is calculated. The Education Department defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% or more of school days. However, states report chronically absent students over a full school year while basing total enrollment figures on a single date.
This mismatch in timeframes has produced unreliable and implausible statistics. Some schools reported absenteeism rates exceeding 100%, a mathematical impossibility that indicates systemic errors in data collection or reporting.
“Calculating rates using mismatched timeframes has resulted in unreliable and implausible chronic absenteeism rates (e.g., rates over 100 percent),” the GAO said.
Discrepancies Highlighted in Specific School Types
The data discrepancies were particularly pronounced in low-performing schools and those housing career and technical education programs. The issue was most severe in shared-time schools, where students split their days between different institutions.
Nearly 30% of shared-time schools reported implausible chronic absenteeism rates, compared to under 2% of other schools. In Pennsylvania, the problem was acute, with 98% of shared-time schools showing implausible figures. Conversely, states including Idaho, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, and Rhode Island reported no shared-time schools with implausible rates.
Among Comprehensive Support and Improvement schools, nearly 13% showed implausible rates over 100%, while only about 2% of schools outside that category did. Chronic absenteeism has remained elevated following the COVID-19 pandemic, with estimates suggesting at least one-quarter of K-12 students were chronically absent in recent years.
The GAO findings underscore the challenges federal agencies face in tracking educational outcomes and ensuring taxpayer dollars are used effectively without robust monitoring mechanisms. The lack of a clear path forward for compliance reviews leaves states and districts operating without immediate federal scrutiny on these critical metrics.