BILL ANALYSIS

 

 

 

C.S.H.B. 3931

By: Dutton

Youth Health & Safety, Select

Committee Report (Substituted)

 

 

 

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 

In 2015, the 84th Legislature, Regular Session, enacted H.B. 2398, which aimed to address criminalizing students for failure to attend school, also known as truancy, by decriminalizing truancy and providing for judicial discretion with respect to truant students and their parents. However, since 2015, the crisis of truancy has become increasingly troublesome and concerns have arisen that schools are not reporting truant students soon enough for the situation to be appropriately investigated. C.S.H.B. 3931 aims to address these concerns by revising statutory provisions relating to truancy in public schools.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

 

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes 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 Texas Education Agency in SECTION 3 of this bill.

 

ANALYSIS

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to require a county, justice, or municipal court to dismiss a charge of a parent contributing to a child's nonattendance to school if the parent completes the terms of an agreement, as specified under the bill's provisions, within the required period and authorizes the court to extend that period during which a parent may fulfill the agreement terms if agreed to by the applicable district.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 amends the Education Code to authorize a parent against whom a complaint has been filed for contributing to a child's nonattendance to school and the public school district at which the parent's child is enrolled to enter into a written agreement requiring the parent to complete counseling, training, or another program as designated by the district. The bill entitles the parent to dismissal of the complaint if the parent fulfills the terms of such an agreement not later than the 30th day after the date on which the complaint was filed or within the period provided by the agreement. The bill authorizes the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to adopt rules and materials necessary to implement the bill's provisions relating to an agreement for dismissal of an applicable complaint, including by doing the following:

·         making standardized agreement forms available to districts;

·         recommending program options that a district may require in an agreement with a parent, which may include the following:

o   faith-based counseling or training programs; or

o   other programs that provide instruction designed to assist a parent in identifying problems that contribute to unexcused absences by the parent's child and in developing strategies for resolving those problems; and

·         requiring relevant programs, resources, and materials to be made available through regional educational service centers.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 removes the cap on the fines for a parent who contributes to a child's nonattendance at school and establishes that such an offense constitutes a Class C misdemeanor. The bill's provisions regarding the criminal charge of parents contributing to nonattendance apply only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. The bill provides for the continuation of the law in effect before the bill's effective date for purposes of an offense, or any element thereof, that occurred before that date.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 replaces a requirement for a district or open enrollment charter school to notify a student's parent in writing that the parent is subject to prosecution and the student is subject to referral to a truancy court at the beginning of the school year if the student is absent from school on 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year with a requirement for a district or charter school to send such a notice if the student is absent without excuse from school for 10 percent of the school's required operation and instructional time within a school year. The bill requires a district or charter school to refer such a student to a truancy court and changes the time period within which a district or charter school must do so from within 10 school days of the student's 10th absence to immediately after the student becomes subject to referral to a truancy court. These provisions apply beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 requires each district to annually submit a report to TEA that includes, for the preceding school year, the following information, disaggregated by campus and grade:

·         the number of students who failed to attend school without excuse for 10 percent of the school's required operation and instructional time within a school year;

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

·         the number of students for whom the district made a referral to truancy court; and

·         the number of parents of students against whom a complaint for contributing to a child's nonattendance has been filed.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 amends the Government Code to authorize a parent who is convicted of contributing to a child's nonattendance at school to petition the court that imposed the sentence for an order of nondisclosure of criminal history record information if the person completes a program approved by the court. The bill requires the court to issue an order prohibiting criminal justice agencies from disclosing to the public such information related to the offense after notice to the state, an opportunity for a hearing, and a determination that the person is entitled to file the petition and that issuance of the order is in the best interest of justice.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 amends the Family Code to remove a provision that designates certain constitutional county courts, justice courts, and municipal courts as truancy courts. Instead, the bill requires the county commissioners court as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date to designate one or more justice courts in the county as the truancy courts for that county. The bill repeals an authorization for a municipality to enter into an agreement with an applicable municipality to establish concurrent jurisdiction of the municipal courts in both municipalities and to provide original jurisdiction to a municipal court in which a truancy case is brought as if the municipal court were located in the municipality in which the case arose. The bill establishes that such a child engages in truant conduct with respect to the Family Code beginning with the 2023-2024 school year.

 

C.S.H.B. 3931 repeals Section 65.004(c), Family Code.

 

EFFECTIVE DATE

 

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2023.

 

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

 

While C.S.H.B. 3931 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

 

Whereas the introduced required the commissioners court of a county to designate a justice court of a precinct in the county as the county's truancy court, the substitute requires such a designation of one or more justice courts in the county as truancy courts for the county.

 

Both the introduced and substitute require a district or charter school to notify a student's parent in writing that the parent is subject to prosecution and the student is subject to referral to a truancy court at the beginning of the school year if the student is absent from school for 10 percent of the school's required operation and instructional time within a school year. However, the substitute specifies that the requirement applies to student absences that are without excuse, whereas the introduced applies to all absences. The substitute specifies that the 10 percent of the school's required operation and instructional time for which a student's absence constitutes truancy applies only to absences that are without excuse, whereas the introduced does not make that specification.

 

The substitute omits provisions from the introduced that did the following:

·         removed a district's authority to revoke for the remainder of the school year the enrollment of an applicable person who voluntarily attends school after their 19th birthday who has more than five absences in a semester that are not excused;

·         authorized a district instead to take certain disciplinary actions against such a person, including imposing a behavior improvement plan as a truancy prevention measure;

·         required a statement from a student's school included in each referral to truancy court to certify that the school applied certain truancy prevention measures to the student for at least one semester; and

·         defined a chronically absent student as a student who is absent from school for 10 percent of the school's required operation and instructional time within a school year.

 

The substitute includes the following provisions absent from the introduced regarding an agreement for the dismissal of a charge against a parent for contributing to a child's nonattendance to school:

·         an authorization for a parent against whom the complaint and the district at which the parent's child is enrolled to enter into a written agreement requiring the parent to complete counseling, training, or another program as designated by the district;

·         a provision that entitles the parent to dismissal of the complaint if the parent fulfills the terms of such an agreement not later than the 30th day after the date on which the complaint was filed or within the period provided by the agreement; and

·         an authorization for TEA to adopt rules and materials necessary to implement the bill's provisions relating to such an agreement, including by making standardized agreement forms available to districts, recommending certain program options that a district may require in an applicable agreement with a parent, and requiring relevant programs, resources, and materials to be made available through regional educational service centers.

 

The substitute includes the following provisions absent from the introduced:

·         a requirement for a county, justice, or municipal court to dismiss a charge of a parent contributing to nonattendance if the parent completes the terms of an agreement, as specified under the bill's provisions, within the required period;

·         an authorization for such a court to extend that period if agreed to by the applicable district; and

·         a requirement for each district to annually submit a report to TEA that includes, for the preceding school year, certain data regarding truancy incidences, disaggregated by campus and grade.