By: West S.B. No. 1572
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the compulsory school attendance laws and
1-2 responsibility for compliance with those laws; providing penalties.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 1, Article 45.22, Code of Criminal
1-5 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 1. No person shall ever be tried in any justice
1-7 precinct court unless the offense with which he was charged was
1-8 committed in such precinct with the exception of truancy or failure
1-9 to attend school, which may be referred to a justice court in any
1-10 precinct in the county in which the parent resides or in which the
1-11 school is located, or except as otherwise provided by provisions of
1-12 the Education Code or Family Code. Provided, however, should there
1-13 be no duly qualified justice precinct court in the precinct where
1-14 such offense was committed, then the defendant shall be tried in
1-15 the justice precinct next adjacent which may have a duly qualified
1-16 justice court. And provided further, that if the justice of the
1-17 peace of the precinct in which the offense was committed is
1-18 disqualified for any reason for trying the case, then such
1-19 defendant may be tried in some other justice precinct within the
1-20 county.
1-21 SECTION 2. Subsection (f), Section 25.002, Education Code,
1-22 is amended to read as follows:
1-23 (f) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, for a
1-24 child to be enrolled in a public school, the child must be enrolled
2-1 by the child's parent, [or by] the child's guardian or other person
2-2 with legal control of the child under a court order, or the child's
2-3 custodian. Proof that the person enrolling the child is the
2-4 child's parent, guardian, or custodian must be provided at the time
2-5 of enrollment by presentation of a driver's license, social
2-6 security card, or other valid legal document.
2-7 SECTION 3. Subsections (a), (b), and (c), Section 25.093,
2-8 Education Code, are amended to read as follows:
2-9 (a) If any parent of a child required to attend school fails
2-10 to require the child to attend school as required by law, after the
2-11 school has previously warned [attendance officer shall warn] the
2-12 parent in writing that it is the parent's duty to monitor the
2-13 child's school attendance and to require the child to attend
2-14 school, the parent is subject to prosecution under Subsection (b)
2-15 for failure to comply with school attendance requirements [is
2-16 immediately required].
2-17 (b) If, after being previously warned as described by [a
2-18 warning under] Subsection (a), the parent with criminal negligence
2-19 fails to require the child to attend school as required by law [and
2-20 the child has unexcused voluntary absences for the amount of time
2-21 specified under Section 51.03(b)(2), Family Code], the parent
2-22 commits an offense.
2-23 (c) The attendance officer shall file a complaint against
2-24 the parent in the county court, in a justice court in any precinct
2-25 in the county in which the parent resides or in which the school is
2-26 located, or in a municipal court of the municipality in which the
3-1 parent resides or in which the school is located. The attendance
3-2 officer shall file a complaint under this section in the court to
3-3 which the parent's child has been referred for engaging in conduct
3-4 described in Section 51.03(b)(2), Family Code, if a referral has
3-5 been made for the child. [If a referral has not been made, the
3-6 attendance officer shall refer the child to the county juvenile
3-7 probation department for action as engaging in conduct indicating a
3-8 need for supervision under that section.]
3-9 SECTION 4. Subsection (b), Section 25.094, Education Code,
3-10 is amended to read as follows:
3-11 (b) An offense under this section may be prosecuted in a
3-12 justice court in any precinct in the county in which the child
3-13 resides or in which the school is located or in a municipal court
3-14 in the municipality in which the child resides or in which the
3-15 school is located.
3-16 SECTION 5. Subsection (a), Section 25.095, Education Code,
3-17 is amended to read as follows:
3-18 (a) A school district shall notify a student's parent or
3-19 legal guardian in writing at the beginning of the school year that
3-20 if[, in a six-month period,] the student is [has been] absent from
3-21 school three days or parts of days within a four-week period
3-22 without parental consent or [an excuse five times for any part of
3-23 the day. The notice must state that if the student is absent
3-24 without an excuse for] 10 [or more] days or parts of days unexcused
3-25 within [in] a six-month period:
3-26 (1) the student's parent or legal guardian is subject
4-1 to prosecution under Section 25.093; and
4-2 (2) the student is subject to prosecution under
4-3 Section 25.094.
4-4 SECTION 6. Section 51.08, Family Code, is amended by adding
4-5 Subsection (d) to read as follows:
4-6 (d) A misdemeanor described by Subsection (b)(1) shall not
4-7 be construed to include truant conduct or conduct resulting in a
4-8 failure to attend school.
4-9 SECTION 7. Subsection (f), Section 54.021, Family Code, is
4-10 amended to read as follows:
4-11 (f) A school attendance officer may refer a person alleged
4-12 to have engaged in conduct described in Section 51.03(b)(2) [of
4-13 this code] to a justice court in any precinct in the county in
4-14 which [where] the person resides or in which [where] the [person's]
4-15 school is located or to a municipal court of the municipality in
4-16 which [where] the person resides or in which [where] the [person's]
4-17 school is located if the juvenile court having exclusive original
4-18 jurisdiction has waived its jurisdiction as provided by Subsection
4-19 (a) [of this section] for all cases involving conduct described by
4-20 Section 51.03(b)(2) [of this code].
4-21 SECTION 8. (a) The change in law made by this Act to
4-22 Subsection (b), Section 25.093, Education Code, applies only to an
4-23 offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. For
4-24 purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
4-25 effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
4-26 before that date.
5-1 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
5-2 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
5-3 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
5-4 SECTION 9. This Act takes effect August 1, 1999.
5-5 SECTION 10. The importance of this legislation and the
5-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force according to its
5-11 terms, and it is so enacted.
5-12 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
5-13 Amend SB 1572 by deleting Section 2, and replacing that
5-14 section with the following:
5-15 SECTION 2. Delete Subsection (f), Section 25.002, Education
5-16 code and add a new subsection (f) as follows:
5-17 (f) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, for a
5-18 child to be enrolled in a public school, the child must be enrolled
5-19 by the child's parent or by the child's guardian. At the time of
5-20 enrollment the parent or guardian shall present a driver's license,
5-21 social security card, or other valid identification.
5-22 Sadler