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House Education reviews proposed statutory package to address chronic absenteeism and truancy
Summary
The House Education Committee reviewed draft statutory language that would create a new chronic-absenteeism subchapter in Title 16, set definitions (10% threshold for chronic absenteeism; 20 unexcused absences or 175 days for truancy), require AOE model policy adoption, and establish reporting and enforcement steps; members requested AOE and stakeholder testimony and flagged several scope and numeric clarifications.
Speaker 1 convened the House Education Committee on Feb. 3 to review a draft miscellaneous education bill that includes a substantial package of new statutory language to govern chronic absenteeism and truancy.
The legislative counsel walked members through a proposed new subchapter in Title 16, Chapter 25 that would add definitions and procedures. Under the draft, chronic absenteeism would be defined as a student who is absent for 10% or more of a district's or approved independent school's student attendance days in a school year, "regardless of whether the absences are considered excused or unexcused," and truancy would be defined as 20 or more unexcused absences either within a single school year or within the last 175 consecutive student attendance days. The draft also creates a list of excused absences and authorizes superintendents or heads of school to excuse preplanned family commitments with prior notice.
"This is all brand new language," Speaker 2 (legislative counsel) told the committee as they reviewed…
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