Consequences or support? That question dominates state lawmakers’ debate on how to address truancy in Texas. KPRC has shown you more than one million children are considered truant in Texas every year. This session a slew of bills have been filed to reinstate tougher consequences for truancy, but many lawmakers question whether these changes will punish those who need the most help.
“This bill is about ensuring school attendance is a priority,” said State Rep. Don McLaughlin/R-Dist. 80.
McLaughlin presented his bill to the subcommittee on juvenile justice on Thursday. House Bill 2947 would again make truancy a misdemeanor offense punishable by fine only and raise fines to $150 for a first offense and up to $800 for fifth and subsequent offenses. The bill also creates a faster path to truancy court by only requiring schools to use one truancy prevention measure before being given the option of sending a student to truancy court.
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“Every school district that has come to my office, whether they’re in my district or out of my district, the number one problem that every one of them has told me is truancy, kids not coming to school,” said McLaughlin.
Some members of the subcommittee expressed concern over tougher consequences unfairly punishing children who are facing hardships in life.
“It’s the poor families who have trouble getting their kids to school. It’s the support kids who have the most need and have the problems, and hitting those families with fines didn’t solve anything,” said State Rep. Gene Wu/D-Dist. 137.
Wu said data showed tougher fines and penalties for truant kids was not effective in getting kids back to class, which was a driving factor in lawmakers’ decision to decriminalize truancy in 2015. Truancy became a civil offense and schools were required to use truancy prevention measures, such as connecting families with support services, to help get kids back to class.
“The reason we made these changes back in 2015 is what we could show empirically, show it through data, that having these programs and having these tough truancy laws and having these fines don’t actually improve truancies," Wu said.
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State Rep. Jolanda Jones/D-Dist. 147 agreed with Wu.
“The answer is to provide resources to schools so they can provide the social services that the families need and not penalize them and criminalize them,” said Jones.
McLaughlin argued his bill is not aimed at making criminals out of students who are struggling, but contends a system with little consequence leads to little compliance.
“I’m not trying to punish these kids or punish parents or anything. But what we’re doing is not working," said McLaughlin.
Former Jackson County Sheriff, State Rep. A.J. Louderback echoed concerns that truancy and chronic absenteeism is a growing problem in Texas.
“All of my districts, 26 in House District 30, have said absenteeism is a problem. It affects my money, affects my basic allowance every day, but I can’t teach a kid if he’s not in school,” said Louderback, who is a member of the subcommittee.
The only witness to testify during the hearing on HB 2947 was Andrew Hairston, director of the education justice project at Texas Appleseed. Hairston testified against the bill.
“Even a hundred dollars for these working-class folks can make or break them when they’re working multiple jobs,” Hairston told the committee.
McLaughlin’s bill was left pending in committee. The debate heard during this hearing was almost identical the one heard during a hearing before the Senate education committee a week prior. During that hearing similar arguments were made for and against tougher consequences for truancy.
