Communities In Schools President Testifies Before Congress: “Integrated Student Supports Are the Bipartisan Solution to America’s Chronic Absenteeism Crisis”
CONTACT: Whitney Faison, faisonw@cisnet.org, 315-420-6049
As 15 million classroom seats sit empty across America, Rey Saldaña, President and CEO of Communities In Schools® (CIS®), delivered urgent testimony today before the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, demonstrating how integrated student supports (ISS) deliver measurable results while optimizing existing government resources.
In his testimony, Saldaña – who rose to become the first in his family to attend college thanks to CIS interventions – presented evidence showing how strategic federal investments in ISS produce extraordinary returns on taxpayer investment while honoring local control and parental authority.
“We're not just another program – we're an operating system that maximizes existing resources empowering parents and students to succeed," Saldaña testified. "Think of ISS as air traffic control for student success – coordinating federal, state, and local resources already paid for but often sitting in silos. While teachers focus on classroom instruction, our coordinators tackle what derails learning: chronic absenteeism, mental health concerns, and basic needs.”
Saldaña presented compelling data demonstrating CIS's fiscal responsibility, which places dedicated site coordinators in 3,571 schools across 29 states and D.C., serving 2 million students nationwide:
For every federal dollar that supports ISS, we leverage an additional four dollars from state, local, and private sources. Throughout this work, parents remain central – they are the primary education decision-makers, period. Our site coordinators work directly with 360,000 families annually, ensuring their voice drives the support their children receive.
The testimony emphasized how ISS transforms chronic absenteeism into academic achievement while preparing students for America's workforce:
“At CIS, we've proven that being present matters. Our seniors graduate at a 96 percent rate, representing for each graduate at least $250,000 in lifetime tax contributions and cost savings. That's not just statistics, but real children with futures secured.”
Saldaña's testimony was supported by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL), home of the Coalition for Community Schools. In a letter to Ranking Member DeLauro, S. Kwesi Rollins, Chief Program Officer at IEL, emphasized:
CIS has mastered one of the key pillars of the community schools strategy, integrated student supports, and has important evidence of its lasting effects on key issues, including chronic absenteeism and workforce readiness. These coordinated, wrap-around services have demonstrated returns on taxpayer investment.
Hedy Chang, Executive Director and Founder of the nonprofit Attendance Works, noted:
“Helping students show up to schools regularly is essential to ensuring students thrive and succeed in school and beyond. Schools alone, however, do not have the necessary resources to help students overcome all of the hurdles that can cause them to miss school. CIS offers a proven approach for making sure schools are equipped to reduce chronic absence rates, which have remained far too high, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.”
The testimony comes at a critical moment when federal education programs face unprecedented scrutiny. Saldaña demonstrated how CIS's model transcends partisan divides by focusing on measurable results that satisfy both fiscal conservatives and those seeking to address opportunity gaps.
Citing examples from rural Jackson County, North Carolina, Montgomery, Alabama, and Louisiana's CIS of Gulf South, Saldaña showed how ISS strengthens workforce readiness while simultaneously tackling the national attendance crisis.
“Our successes build on a foundation of bipartisan cooperation. Congress showed remarkable foresight when it recognized integrated student supports in the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015,” Saldaña noted.
He concluded with an urgent appeal:
"Today, as 15 million classroom seats sit empty across America, these strategic appropriations aren't merely line items – they're investments in an evidence-based operating system that delivers $11 for every $1 invested. They represent the smart fiscal stewardship that taxpayers deserve and that our children need."
About Communities In Schools
Communities In Schools® (CIS®) is a national organization that ensures every student, regardless of who they are, has what they need to realize their potential in school and beyond. Working directly inside more than 3,000 schools across the country, we connect students to caring adults and community resources that help them see, confront, and overcome the barriers that stand between them and a brighter future. Together, we build a powerful change movement made up of peers, students, and alumni committed to building an equitable path to education for future generations. Follow us for news @communitiesinschools on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, @cisnational on X (formerly Twitter), or with the hashtag #BeingPresentMatters.
