Malheur County’s school attendance increased after truancy citations reinstated

Malheur County is about as far from the state’s centers of power as you can get and still be in Oregon. From Salem, it’s a 375-mile drive that crosses the Cascade Mountains and sweeping sagebrush and ends in a different time zone. Malheur’s residents are the poorest and least educated in Oregon.

Yet an OJP analysis of 2025–26 attendance data reveals that Malheur County’s kids show up to class more than those in any other…