By Luna H.B. No. 1648
75R6311 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to public school attendance.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 25.087(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 (a) A child required to attend school may be excused for
1-7 temporary absence resulting from any cause acceptable to the
1-8 teacher, principal, or superintendent of the school in which the
1-9 child is enrolled. A teacher, principal, or superintendent may not
1-10 excuse an absence under this subsection resulting from conduct
1-11 described under Section 51.03(b)(3), Family Code.
1-12 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is
1-13 amended by adding Section 25.0911 to read as follows:
1-14 Sec. 25.0911. SERVICE OF LEGAL PROCESS. A school district
1-15 administrator, school administrator, or constable designated in
1-16 writing by an attendance officer may serve legal process under the
1-17 same circumstances and in the same manner as an attendance officer
1-18 under Section 25.091.
1-19 SECTION 3. Section 25.093, Education Code, is amended to
1-20 read as follows:
1-21 Sec. 25.093. THWARTING COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW. (a) If
1-22 any parent of a child required to attend school fails to require
1-23 the child to attend school as required by law, the school
1-24 attendance officer shall warn the parent [in writing] that
2-1 attendance is immediately required. A warning for purposes of this
2-2 subsection may be an actual warning or a warning in writing that:
2-3 (1) is sent by:
2-4 (A) registered or certified mail with return
2-5 receipt requested;
2-6 (B) telegram with report of delivery requested;
2-7 or
2-8 (C) first class mail if the letter was returned
2-9 unopened with markings indicating that the address is incorrect and
2-10 that there is no current forwarding order; and
2-11 (2) is addressed to the parent at the parent's address
2-12 shown on school records.
2-13 (b) A warning given in accordance with Subsections (a)(1)
2-14 and (2) is presumed to have been received not later than the fifth
2-15 day after the date the warning was sent.
2-16 (c) If, after a warning under Subsection (a), the parent
2-17 with criminal negligence fails to require the child to attend
2-18 school as required by law and the child has unexcused voluntary
2-19 absences for the amount of time specified under Section
2-20 51.03(b)(2), Family Code, the parent commits an offense.
2-21 (d) [(c)] The attendance officer shall file a complaint
2-22 against the parent in the county court, in the justice court of the
2-23 parent's resident precinct, or in the municipal court of the
2-24 municipality in which the parent resides or in any municipality or
2-25 justice of the peace precinct in which the school district is
2-26 located. The attendance officer shall file a complaint under this
2-27 section in the court to which the parent's child has been referred
3-1 for engaging in conduct described in Section 51.03(b)(2), Family
3-2 Code, if a referral has been made for the child. If a referral has
3-3 not been made, the attendance officer shall refer the child to the
3-4 county juvenile probation department for action as engaging in
3-5 conduct indicating a need for supervision under that section.
3-6 (e) [(d)] A court in which a complaint is filed under this
3-7 section shall give preference to a hearing on the complaint over
3-8 other cases before the court.
3-9 (f) [(e)] An offense under this section is a Class C
3-10 misdemeanor. Each day the child remains out of school after the
3-11 warning has been given or the child has been ordered to attend
3-12 school by the juvenile court may constitute a separate offense.
3-13 Two or more offenses under this section may be consolidated and
3-14 prosecuted in a single action. If the court probates the sentence,
3-15 the court may require the defendant to render personal services to
3-16 a charitable or educational institution as a condition of
3-17 probation.
3-18 (g) [(f)] A fine collected under this section shall be
3-19 deposited as follows:
3-20 (1) one-half shall be deposited to the credit of the
3-21 operating fund of the school district in which the child attends
3-22 school; and
3-23 (2) one-half shall be deposited to the credit of:
3-24 (A) the general fund of the county, if the
3-25 complaint is filed in the county court or justice court; or
3-26 (B) the general fund of the municipality, if the
3-27 complaint is filed in municipal court.
4-1 (h) [(g)] At the trial of any person charged with violating
4-2 this section, the attendance records of the child may be presented
4-3 in court by any authorized employee of the school district.
4-4 (i) [(h)] The court in which a conviction for an offense
4-5 under this section occurs may order the defendant to attend a class
4-6 for parents of students with unexcused absences that provides
4-7 instruction designed to assist those parents in identifying
4-8 problems that contribute to the students' unexcused absences and in
4-9 developing strategies for resolving those problems if the school
4-10 district in which the person resides offers such a class.
4-11 (j) [(i)] In this section, "parent" includes a person
4-12 standing in parental relation.
4-13 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998
4-14 school year.
4-15 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
4-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-20 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-21 passage, and it is so enacted.