By: Stiles H.B. No. 1812
73R6207 ESH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to students at risk of dropping out of public school;
1-3 providing penalties.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 4.25(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 (a) If any parent or person standing in parental relation to
1-8 a child, within the compulsory school attendance ages and not
1-9 lawfully exempt or properly excused from school attendance, fails
1-10 to require such child to attend school for such periods as required
1-11 by law, it shall be the duty of the proper attendance officer to
1-12 warn, in writing, the parent or person standing in parental
1-13 relation that attendance must be immediately required. If after
1-14 this warning the parent or person standing in parental relation
1-15 intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence
1-16 fails to require the child to attend school as required by law, the
1-17 parent or person standing in parental relation commits an offense.
1-18 The attendance officer shall file a complaint against him in the
1-19 county court, in the justice court of his resident precinct, or in
1-20 the municipal court of the municipality in which he resides or in
1-21 the municipality or justice of the peace precinct in which the
1-22 school is located. In addition, if the child has been voluntarily
1-23 absent from school for 10 or more days or parts of days within a
1-24 six-month period or three or more days or parts of days within a
2-1 four-week period without the consent of his parents, the attendance
2-2 officer shall refer the child to the county juvenile probation
2-3 department for action as conduct indicating a need for supervision
2-4 under Section 51.03(b), Family Code. A court in which a complaint
2-5 is filed under this subsection shall give preference to a hearing
2-6 on the complaint over other cases before the court. An offense
2-7 under this section is a Class C misdemeanor <punishable by a fine
2-8 of not less than $5 nor more than $25 for the first offense, not
2-9 less than $10 nor more than $50 for the second offense, and not
2-10 less than $25 nor more than $100 for a subsequent offense>. Each
2-11 day the child remains out of school after the warning has been
2-12 given or the child ordered to school by the juvenile court may
2-13 constitute a separate offense. If the court probates the sentence,
2-14 the court may require the defendant to render personal services to
2-15 a charitable or educational institution as a condition of
2-16 probation.
2-17 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 4, Education Code, is
2-18 amended by adding Section 4.251 to read as follows:
2-19 Sec. 4.251. FAILURE TO ATTEND SCHOOL. (a) A child commits
2-20 an offense if the child:
2-21 (1) is required to attend school under Section 21.032
2-22 of this code; and
2-23 (2) during six consecutive months in a school year,
2-24 fails to attend school for five or more days without an excuse as
2-25 provided by Section 21.035 of this code.
2-26 (b) An offense under this section may be prosecuted in the
2-27 justice court for the precinct in which the child resides or in
3-1 which the school is located.
3-2 (c) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
3-3 SECTION 3. Section 21.035(g), Education Code, is amended to
3-4 read as follows:
3-5 (g) The absences of a student who returns to school as a
3-6 result of a prosecution under Section 4.25 or 4.251 of this code or
3-7 by order of a court may be excused if the student:
3-8 (1) returns to school and attends class regularly and
3-9 to the satisfaction of the district;
3-10 (2) satisfactorily completes assignments for the
3-11 period of the absence within a reasonable time determined by the
3-12 district; and
3-13 (3) passes an examination at the completion of the
3-14 class.
3-15 SECTION 4. Section 21.039(a), Education Code, is amended to
3-16 read as follows:
3-17 (a) A school attendance officer shall have the following
3-18 powers and duties:
3-19 (1) to investigate all cases of unexcused absences
3-20 from school;
3-21 (2) to administer oaths and to serve legal process;
3-22 (3) to enforce the provisions of the compulsory
3-23 attendance law;
3-24 (4) to keep records of all cases of any kind
3-25 investigated by him in the discharge of his duties;
3-26 (5) to make all reports of his work required of him by
3-27 the commissioner of education; and
4-1 (6) to refer to a juvenile court any truant pupil who
4-2 has unexcused voluntary absences for the amount of time specified
4-3 under Section 51.03(b)(2), Family Code, or to file a complaint
4-4 against any recalcitrant person having parental control as provided
4-5 in Section 4.25 of this code, or to file a complaint against a
4-6 pupil for a violation of Section 4.251 of this code.
4-7 SECTION 5. Section 21.032(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-8 read as follows:
4-9 (a) Unless specifically exempted by Section 21.033 of this
4-10 code or under other laws or unless a child is at least 16 <17>
4-11 years of age and has been issued a high school equivalency
4-12 certificate, every child in the state who is as much as six years
4-13 of age, or who is less than seven years of age and has previously
4-14 been enrolled in first grade, and who has not completed the
4-15 academic year in which his 16th <17th> birthday occurred shall be
4-16 required to attend the public schools in the district of his
4-17 residence or in some other district to which he may be transferred
4-18 as provided or authorized by law a minimum of 170 days of the
4-19 regular school term of the district in which the child resides or
4-20 to which he has been transferred.
4-21 SECTION 6. Section 21.920(b), Education Code, is amended to
4-22 read as follows:
4-23 (b) A student enrolled in a school district in this state
4-24 shall be suspended from participation in any extracurricular
4-25 activity sponsored or sanctioned by the school district during the
4-26 grade reporting period after a grade reporting period in which the
4-27 student received a grade lower than the equivalent of 70 on a scale
5-1 of 100 in any academic class. The campus principal may remove this
5-2 suspension if the class is an identified honors or advanced class.
5-3 After the first three weeks of a suspension under this subsection,
5-4 the campus principal may remove the suspension if the student has
5-5 not received a grade lower than the equivalent of 70 on a scale of
5-6 100 in any academic class in that three-week period. The principal
5-7 shall reinstate the suspension if the student receives a grade
5-8 lower than the equivalent of 70 on a scale of 100 in any academic
5-9 class in the second three weeks of the period.
5-10 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-11 SECTION 8. (a) The change in law made by Section 1 of this
5-12 Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective
5-13 date of this Act. For the purposes of this section, an offense is
5-14 committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of
5-15 the offense occurs before the effective date.
5-16 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
5-17 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
5-18 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
5-19 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
5-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.