BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 548

By: Canales

Public Education

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There are concerns that, because the state does not possess precise grade level data with regard to truancy, policymakers are prevented from making informed assessments of the state's truancy problems. C.S.H.B. 548 seeks to address these concerns by requiring public school districts and open‑enrollment charter schools to report detailed truancy information through the Public Education Information Management System.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the commissioner of education in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 548 amends the Education Code to require the commissioner of education by rule to require each public school district and open-enrollment charter school to report through the Public Education Information Management System information disaggregated by campus and grade regarding the following information:

· the number of children who are required to attend school and fail to attend school without excuse for 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year;

· the number of students for whom the district initiates a truancy prevention measure; and

· the number of parents of students against whom an attendance officer or other appropriate school official has filed a complaint for contributing to nonattendance.

C.S.H.B. 548 requires the commissioner to adopt the required rules not later than January 1, 2020.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 548 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute does not include the number of children who are required to attend school and fail to enroll as required information.