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Senate panel approves Kunish bill allowing diversionary welfare response for some educational neglect reports
Summary
Senator Liz Kunish told the Education Policy Committee Minnesota law currently requires a child protection response for screened‑in reports of educational neglect — defined in statute as seven unexcused absences for children under 12 — and introduced a bill to allow local welfare agencies to use a diversionary child welfare response when no safety concerns exist.
Senator Liz (Kunish), chairing the bill’s presentation, told the Senate Education Policy Committee that current Minnesota law requires a traditional child protection response to screened‑in reports of educational neglect — defined in statute as seven unexcused absences for children under 12 — but that attendance problems are often rooted in housing, transportation, childcare, medical and other systemic barriers.
"School attendance is less often an issue of parental neglect, but rather an issue of societal neglect where our systems are failing to support children and their families," Kunish said, describing the bill’s purpose to allow local welfare agencies to provide diversionary child welfare responses in educational‑neglect cases where no safety concerns exist.
The bill would permit local welfare agencies to implement a child welfare response — focused on supports and services — with culturally and linguistically…
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