DALLAS — Texas families whose children frequently miss school could face steeper penalties, as some state lawmakers debate bringing back harsher elements of the state’s truancy system.
Bills under consideration in the Legislature would increase punishments for truancy and lessen some of the burden on districts to bring students back to class in a non-punitive way.
Texas lawmakers had reformed the truancy system less than a decade ago amid widespread worries that the state’s approach criminalized children.
Some lawmakers hinted at their appetite to revisit truancy laws during hearings after the Uvalde massacre. The man who carried out Texas’ deadliest school shooting had often missed class, becoming chronically absent in sixth grade, officials said.
Lawmakers did not tie the truancy legislation to Uvalde during a Monday hearing in the Youth, Health and Safety committee. Rather, Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, said it was necessary to put “teeth” back into the state’s truancy law.
“We know that schools cannot teach students who are not in attendance,” he said. The bill “tries to put some tools in the toolbox for school districts to try to get these students back in school.”
The idea is opposed by several advocacy groups, including the Intercultural Development Research Association, Texas Appleseed and the ACLU of Texas.
They wrote in a letter to the committee that families living in poverty, students with disabilities and pregnant students are more likely to miss school and get hurt by the higher fines proposed in VanDeaver’s bill.
“For families that are really struggling to put gas in their car and pay for food and buy the clothes and school supplies, this increase in penalties really can be significant,” IDRA’s Paige Duggins-Clay testified.
A bill introduced by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, meanwhile, would establish that if a parent is found responsible for a child’s non-attendance at school, it is a Class C misdemeanor. This allows judicial discretion in assigning a fine, up to $500.
Before the state’s sweeping changes in 2015, Texas children and teenagers who missed too much school could face steep fines and, in some cases, jail time. Education advocates pointed to the system as an example of perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline.
In 2013, more than 115,000 criminal truancy complaints were filed in Texas, according to the nonprofit Texas Appleseed. Many families netted by the system were poor.
Children faced truancy charges in adult criminal courts, often with no legal representation.
The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation in 2015 into whether Dallas County courts violated constitutionally required due process to children charged with the criminal offense of failure to attend school.
Under the reformed system, districts are required to provide truancy prevention measures to limit the need for court referrals. After a student misses a certain number of days, school officials must send a letter to the parent scheduling a meeting and then develop a plan of action, which can include sending the student to counseling, community service or mentoring.
If a student continues to miss school regularly, the child or the parents still can be referred to truancy court, where a judge may assess fines.
Some school district leaders have complained that this state-mandated approach lacks teeth. VanDeaver cited a spike in the number of chronically absent students between 2015 and 2021. The COVID pandemic was still raging in 2021, which has been linked to a rise in children missing school.
“What we’re doing is not working,” the lawmaker said.
VanDeaver’s bill would increase the financial penalty for truancy. For example, a first offense would cost $400 – up from $100. The fine would increase with each subsequent offense.
Fines could be waived if a parent or child meets certain criteria.
Still, the heavier financial burden worries advocacy groups.
“For low-income families, fines create a financial burden that exacerbates the root causes of truancy, such as transportation or housing issues,” a coalition of organizations wrote in a letter to the committee.
Also, if districts provided truancy prevention measures in a previous school year, they could use those actions to satisfy the requirement the next year if the same child continued to miss school.
This provision is also opposed by the group of advocacy organizations.
“A student and family’s situation can change dramatically in a matter of months, weeks and even days – and expediting a student’s referral to truancy court without first ensuring that no preventative, school-based measures can address the truant behavior is counterproductive and likely to create even more hardship for families in ensuring their child attends school,” they wrote.
The legislation would mandate districts submit truancy and attendance data to the state annually.
VanDeaver said he was open to working with concerned groups on improving the bill, which was left pending in committee.
“This is not about making it more difficult on parents,” he said. “If we’re going to hold our schools accountable for the performance of these students, we need to give them the tools to get the students in school.”
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