AUSTIN, Texas – Several bills have been filed in the Texas House and Senate this legislative session aimed at addressing the problem of truancy in Texas. KPRC 2 Investigates previously reported more than 1-million children were considered truant in Texas during the last four school years.
A student is considered truant if they have 10 or more unexcused absences in a six month period. In 2015, Texas decriminalized truancy and mandated schools use truancy prevention measures to reduce the number of cases referred to court.
Now, some lawmakers want to add stronger consequences back into the mix, arguing the state’s current support model isn’t working and the problem of truancy is getting worse.
“We’ve got to stop looking the other way and pretending it isn’t a problem; collect the data. What gets measured gets fixed and truancy is off the scale at this point,” said State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Dist. 7).
Bettencourt filed SB 991 and SB 570 to address data collection on students who are truant and chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism is used when a student misses 10-percent or more of total instructional time in a school year, regardless of whether the absences are excused or unexcused.
"We’ve got to turn this corner because we’re letting kids not even attend school anymore, and that doesn’t end up with anything good on their future earnings or educational attainment," said Bettencourt. “There’s so many societal problems with truancy that the list is endless."
One of Bettencourt’s bills would also force schools to compel meetings with parents of students missing class and to make home visits if the parents don’t show.
State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Dist. 4) wants to dial back the requirement for truancy prevention in favor of sending truant kids to court faster, where judges can impose corrective measures and consequences for non-compliance. However, Creighton’s bill, SB 1925, still keeps truancy a civil matter but allows for those who are non-compliant with a judge’s order to be referred to a juvenile justice court for possible criminal consequences.
“This softer approach, while well-meaning, has led to an incredible increase in truancy with little enforcement,” Creighton, chair of the Senate Education K-16 committee, said during a recent hearing.
Creighton’s bill would eliminate the requirement for schools to use truancy prevention prior to sending a case to court, would eliminate homelessness as a reason not to send a case to truancy court and would eliminate jury trials in truancy cases.
“We remove a host of exemptions and do away with certain unfunded mandates," said Creighton.
Two Justices of the Peace and two school district superintendent testified in support of the bill.
“Courts need our truancy laws to reflect stronger consequences to deter truant conduct activity,” said Bowie County Judge Catie Hawkins during a hearing on the bill.
Montgomery County Judge Wayne Mack agrees with the stricter measures.
“Children can’t be taught if they’re not there," Mack told the committee.
Data from the Office of Court Administration shows there were 118,213 truancy and parent contributing to nonattendance cases filed in 2014, the year before truancy was decriminalized. In 2024, the number of cases dropped 77-percent to 26,760.
Cy-Fair ISD superintendent, Dr. Douglas Killian, testified overall attendance in his district dropped from 95-percent to 93-percent.
“We lose about $7 million for every one percentage point change in the attendance rate, and that’s money we can use directly for our kids and for those services that they so sorely need," Killian testified.
Wylie ISD superintendent, David Vinson, told the committee the current system and consequences for non-compliance are not enough to deter truant behavior.
“We’ve seen a revolving door of no-show students and parents who missed the court, repeatedly clogging the docket,” said Vinson. “I mean, it becomes overwhelming.”
However, education advocates expressed their concerns about the removal of support systems impacting children facing hurdles in life such as homelessness, learning disabilities, lack of transportation or mental health issues.
“Do this, but do it with some compassion and some guardrails, especially if the child is has a disability,” said David Beinke, Community Development, Education,Employment, and Disability Specialist with the Cirkiel Law Group.
Lauren Rose, director of public policy at Texas Network of Youth Services, said removing support for homeless students may violate federal law.
“How can we better support those students, making sure they’re getting to school, as opposed to kind of pushing them into truancy court,” Rose said to the committee.
Creighton said the judges hearing these cases would take hardships into account when issuing orders to ensure kids attend class. Creighton and Bettencourt’s bills were left pending in committee. It is not yet known when the measures will be brought back for further debate or when a committee vote will decide whether the bills advance to the full Senate.
