Excused absences don't count toward this award. At least not in any of the schools my daughters have attended.

The administration grades the schools on attendance.

Our school does not count excused absences against you. obviously their/your MMV

Technically, it's still a fucked up metric, but if they don't curb it at the school level, it's a lot harder to do it at the state/parent level.

Parents have a pretty strong incentive to keep kids home rather than pay for daycare/neighbors/family to help. They're using the kids to wage the war.