By Steve Klamkin WPRO News

Rhode Island education officials should look into whether absenteeism by teachers poses a problem for student learning, says Governor Gina Raimondo, in response to an Education Week report that found teacher absences runs higher in Rhode Island than in neighboring New England states.

More than one third of Rhode Island teachers were absent for ten days or more, according to a study in the publication. The Providence Journal reports, that figure, 37% during the 2013-2014 school year was the highest percentage of absences by teachers among the New England states.

“We need to look into the data and I’ve been in touch with Commissioner (Ken) Wagner already, and he’s going to do a really deep dive into the data to see what’s going on,” said Gov. Raimondo. “Before we rush to judgement, we have to understand it.”

“I am totally committed to making sure that public school children have high quality teachers, high quality schools and teachers who are there. We’re going to get to the bottom of it and see if there should be a concern,” she said.

Teachers’ union officials told the Providence Journal there isn’t enough information to draw conclusions, while the state says it will soon start to collect data on why teachers miss work.