A new report shows that more than 20 percent of North Carolina teachers are "chronically absent" from work. 

Nearly 23 percent of North Carolina's teachers used 10 or more non-consecutive sick days in the last school year, according to a study done by the state.

The News and Observer reports education officials attributed high absenteeism, in part, to the fact that some teachers no longer consider the profession a life-long career.

The state's nearly 98,000 teachers get one sick day per month to use when students are in class.

School officials say absenteeism costs school districts money to hire substitutes, and hurts student learning.

Some State Board of Education members cautioned against reading too much into the data, and reject the notion that a teacher who misses one day a month is "chronically absent."

But they agree that the issue requires further study.