Attorney General Interprets Changes to Truancy Law

Monday, October 22, 2007
Contributed by: Andrea L. Slater Gulley

The Texas Attorney General recently released an opinion on recent changes to truancy laws. According to the Attorney General, under section 25.0951(a) of the Education Code, a school district must file a complaint or referral against a student who has accumulated ten or more unexcused absences within a six-month period in the same school year within ten school days of the student's tenth absence. Failure to file within ten days will result in the dismissal of the complaint or referral. However, if the student has a subsequent unexcused absence, the school district may file a new complaint, listing some of the same absences as well as the subsequent unexcused absence, within ten school days of this subsequent absence. For example: a student has ten absences, and the school district fails to file within ten days of the student's tenth absence. Any filing by the school district regarding those ten absences will be dismissed. However, when the student has absence #11, the school district can file against the student, listing absences #2 through #11 in the complaint or referral. This filing must be within ten days of absence #11.

Additionally, the Attorney General confirmed that the Education Code imposes no penalties on a school district that fails to file a complaint or referral within ten school days of the student's tenth unexcused absence.

For a copy of the full opinion, go to: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/op50abbott/ga-0574.htm. The request for the opinion is available at: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/opinions/requests_ga/RQ0584GA.pdf.

This column is published for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the author's law firm or its individual partners.