Bill Text: TX SB1630 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to an attendance policy adopted by public schools to prevent truancy.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-23 - Placed on General State Calendar [SB1630 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB1630-Comm_Sub.html
| By: Bettencourt | S.B. No. 1630 | |
| (Dutton) | ||
|
|
||
|
|
||
| relating to an attendance policy adopted by public schools to | ||
| prevent truancy. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Education Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Section 25.0916 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 25.0916. ATTENDANCE POLICY. (a) In this section, | ||
| "parent" includes a person standing in parental relation. | ||
| (b) The board of trustees of each school district and the | ||
| governing body of each open-enrollment charter school shall adopt | ||
| and implement an attendance policy to: | ||
| (1) inform students and parents regarding the | ||
| importance of regular attendance; and | ||
| (2) provide appropriate supports to students who fail | ||
| to regularly attend school. | ||
| (c) An attendance policy adopted under this section must: | ||
| (1) describe the benefits of regular attendance; | ||
| (2) describe the consequences of failing to regularly | ||
| attend school, including the negative effects on: | ||
| (A) a student's academic progress; and | ||
| (B) a student and the student's family as a | ||
| result of referral to a truancy court for truant conduct under | ||
| Section 65.003(a), Family Code; | ||
| (3) provide for a parent of a student enrolled in the | ||
| district or school to elect to receive notifications of the | ||
| student's absence from school for a day or part of a day, regardless | ||
| of whether the student's absence is excused or unexcused, through: | ||
| (A) e-mail or text message, if the district or | ||
| school has the capability to send notifications through those | ||
| methods; or | ||
| (B) first class mail, if the district or school | ||
| does not have the capability to send notifications as provided by | ||
| Paragraph (A); | ||
| (4) provide for a meeting between a parent of a student | ||
| enrolled in the district or school and a school counselor, | ||
| principal, or appropriate administrator when the student becomes at | ||
| risk for engaging in truant conduct under Section 65.003, Family | ||
| Code, as provided by the policy, to discuss the student's behavior | ||
| and any conditions at the student's home that may be contributing to | ||
| the student's failure to attend school; | ||
| (5) if a parent of a student enrolled in the district | ||
| or school fails to attend a meeting described by Subdivision (4), | ||
| authorize the school attendance officer to make a home visit or | ||
| otherwise contact the parent in the manner described by Section | ||
| 25.091 to investigate the student's behavior and living conditions | ||
| and report the attendance officer's findings to the district or | ||
| school; and | ||
| (6) establish guidelines to identify a student in need | ||
| of additional support and to refer the student to in-school or | ||
| out-of-school services aimed at addressing the student's failure to | ||
| regularly attend school. | ||
| (d) At the beginning of each school year, each school | ||
| district or open-enrollment charter school shall provide a copy of | ||
| the attendance policy adopted under this section to the parent of | ||
| each student enrolled in the district or school. | ||
| SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 | ||
| school year. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
