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Social services outlines truancy-mitigation approach, funding and school partnerships
Summary
Marathon County Social Services summarized statutory duties, local diversion slots and recent caseload figures, saying attendance correction committees and contracted diversion slots reduced court referrals since 2019.
Marathon County Social Services presented a county update on truancy-mitigation efforts on March 7, describing how the department uses state guidance and local partnerships to address habitual truancy and to limit referrals to citation court.
Krista Jensen, on behalf of Social Services, said the county’s role is to serve youth who meet the statutory definition of habitual truancy and to coordinate and help fund school-based diversion programs. The county funds contracted slots for diversion and participates in attendance correction committees with schools and community partners.
Why it matters: Social Services officials said earlier and more-coordinated interventions reduce formal court filings and better address underlying causes of chronic absence.
What the county reported: - Legal framework: Marathon County staff cited Wisconsin Statute Chapter 118 (attendance and truancy) as the statutory basis for required truancy plans and panels and for the definition of habitual truancy (10 or more unexcused days in a semester). Schools must document outreach and interventions before referring a youth for court consideration. - Funding and service model: Social Services uses a mix of county levy and state grant funding. The Department of Children and Families Community Intervention Program (CIP) grant partially funds diversion work; county levy covers the majority of local diversion spending. Social Services contracts with Mirror Image for truancy diversion slots. - Slots and usage: In 2024 Mirror Image served 49 unduplicated students; the county contracted for 25 slots at that time (slots indicate capacity at a given time). After budgeting changes in 2024 the county expanded slots across several schools; specific slot counts per school were provided (examples: John Muir 6 slots; DC Everest 6; Junior high combined 8). - Court referrals and petitions: Truancy citation court referrals have fallen from 109 cases in 2019 to 45 in 2024; social-services petitions for habitual truancy were 15 in 2022, 2 in 2023 and 12 in 2024 (staff said COVID-era reporting affected earlier years).
Speakers described local practice: schools convene Attendance Correction Committees (ACC) that include school staff, social services and community partners to try interventions before court referrals. Social Services staff said interventions vary by case and may include home outreach, referrals to mental-health or AODA services, transportation supports and family engagement. For younger children, Social Services said adults can be held accountable under contributing-to-truancy provisions; older students (up to age 18) are covered by compulsory-attendance rules.
Next steps and county context: Social Services asked the committee to consider how much county levy to sustain slots and noted the state grant share is limited. County Administrator Lance urged committee members to consider advocacy at the state level during the upcoming budget cycle if they want greater state funding for court and justice functions.
No formal committee action was taken during the presentation. The department provided the committee a memo with further statutory citations and program details.
