By: Bettencourt  S.B. No. 1630
         (In the Senate - Filed March 6, 2023; March 16, 2023, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 17, 2023,
  reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
  following vote:  Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 17, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1630 By:  Birdwell
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to an attendance policy adopted by public schools to
  prevent truancy.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
  amended by adding Section 25.0916 to read as follows:
         Sec. 25.0916.  ATTENDANCE POLICY. (a) In this section,
  "parent" includes a person standing in parental relation.
         (b)  The board of trustees of each school district and the
  governing body of each open-enrollment charter school shall adopt
  and implement an attendance policy to:
               (1)  inform students and parents regarding the
  importance of regular attendance; and
               (2)  provide appropriate supports to students who fail
  to regularly attend school.
         (c)  An attendance policy adopted under this section must:
               (1)  describe the benefits of regular attendance;
               (2)  describe the consequences of failing to regularly
  attend school, including the negative effects on:
                     (A)  a student's academic progress; and
                     (B)  a student and the student's family as a
  result of referral to a truancy court for truant conduct under
  Section 65.003(a), Family Code;
               (3)  provide for a parent of a student enrolled in the
  district or school to elect to receive notifications of the
  student's absence from school for a day or part of a day, regardless
  of whether the student's absence is excused or unexcused, through:
                     (A)  e-mail or text message, if the district or
  school has the capability to send notifications through those
  methods; or
                     (B)  first class mail, if the district or school
  does not have the capability to send notifications as provided by
  Paragraph (A);
               (4)  provide for a meeting between a parent of a student
  enrolled in the district or school and a school counselor,
  principal, or appropriate administrator when the student becomes at
  risk for engaging in truant conduct under Section 65.003, Family
  Code, as provided by the policy, to discuss the student's behavior
  and any conditions at the student's home that may be contributing to
  the student's failure to attend school;
               (5)  if a parent of a student enrolled in the district
  or school fails to attend a meeting described by Subdivision (4),
  authorize the school attendance officer to make a home visit or
  otherwise contact the parent in the manner described by Section
  25.091 to investigate the student's behavior and living conditions
  and report the attendance officer's findings to the district or
  school; and
               (6)  establish guidelines to identify a student in need
  of additional support and to refer the student to in-school or
  out-of-school services aimed at addressing the student's failure to
  regularly attend school.
         (d)  At the beginning of each school year, each school
  district or open-enrollment charter school shall provide a copy of
  the attendance policy adopted under this section to the parent of
  each student enrolled in the district or school.
         SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024
  school year.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
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