Truancy prevention data reported to the Texas Education Agency is not proactively monitored, 2 Investigates discovered. State law requires school districts to engage in truancy prevention efforts and then report those efforts to the TEA.
“Truancy is like a nagging problem that stays with you year after year and we need to address it,” said State Sen. Paul Bettencourt/(R) Dist-7.
In Texas, a student is truant if they have 10 or more unexcused absences in six months. An analysis of truancy data submitted to the TEA shows approximately 1 million children were reported truant every year for the 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.
In Feb, we also reported TEA data released under the Texas Public Information Act showed 13-14 percent of districts reported zero truancy prevention efforts in the last four school years and 60-64 percent of districts reported more truancies than truancy prevention.
Our investigation prompted the TEA to launch a compliance review of all truancy data. TEA officials said that the review is ongoing but conceded the agency does not have the staff to proactively monitor truancy.
TEA officials said adding extra staff to specifically monitor truancy data is something that would have to come from the legislature. TEA officials declined to speak with 2 Investigates on on-camera but did send a written statement.
“To be effectively served, supported and prepared for an ever-changing world, it is imperative that students attend school. TEA recognizes the challenges associated with truancy and truancy prevention and continues to evaluate state-level data on the issue. When the agency identifies any anomalies with the data or receives any report of state law not being followed, TEA will take appropriate measures to ensure compliance,” the statement read. “Current state law is very clear on the expectations for schools, and the school finance system is structured in a way to incentivize districts to get kids to school. Moving forward, the agency is exploring ways to further support districts in this effort through the provision of guidance and technical support. However, this issue is inherently student-specific, and districts must fulfill their responsibility and obligation to their students and communities regarding student attendance and support.”
When 2 Investigates asked the TEA how many times a truancy complaint prompted the agency to put a school district under a Corrective Action Plan, we were told ‘once.’
TEA officials said the agency can also provide informal support to districts grappling with truant students and when we asked how often that happened, we did not receive a response.
“How does that sit with you?” 2 Investigates asked Bettencourt.
“It doesn’t sit well from the standpoint of we have to recognize that truancy is an obvious problem,” said Bettencourt.
“From what I have seen, you have a law that there are no real consequences if you don’t follow it,” said 2 Investigates’ Robert Arnold.
“This is just part of getting resources directed to where we want them to be directed to," said Bettencourt. “I’m going to be contacting TEA Commissioner Mike Morath myself because I think this is one of the next big challenges for public education. Not that it hasn’t been there. It’s been there and it’s gotten a lot worse.”
The state legislature decriminalized truancy in 2015, noting many students miss class because of hardships in their home life. Bettencourt has tried twice to pass legislation to restart a “civil truancy process.”
“It gets people back involved; number one the parents,” said Bettencourt. “It lets the school districts contact the parents and actually get them into a meeting at the school to find out what’s going on with the student, and it also provides them more tools to be able to try to stem off truancy.”
Bettencourt was successful last legislative session, getting a bill passed that requires Texas schools to define chronic absenteeism as a “student who is absent from school for more than 10 percent of the school’s required operation and instructional time within a school year or an enrollment period that exceeds 30 instructional days.”
Bettencourt’s bill now requires schools to compile and report both chronically absent and truant students, and categorize those students as ‘at-risk’ of dropping out.
Bettencourt said truancy will be a priority during the 2027 legislative session and he will again try to pass legislation to restart a civil truancy process.
“I’m going to be talking to TEA and say, ‘this is the focus.’ We tried to pass this bill twice. I want this bill tuned up to be the best it can be for the third pass," said Bettencourt.
Several truancy-related bills failed to pass the legislature last session because lawmakers were divided on how to best address this problem. Some bills called for stricter punishments, while others called for more support.
“Think about kids who are living in abject poverty, living in violent environments, living in difficult family situations. What are you going to do to them? Are you just going to punish them more than what life has already thrown at them?” said State Rep. Gene Wu./(D) Dist. 137.
Wu said Texas needs to invest more money in programs that address the root causes of truancy, such as homelessness, mental health, lack of transportation and poverty.
“The programs actually take real work, real effort, real time, and real money, and schools don’t have any of those things because we don’t prioritize education,” said Wu.
KPRC 2 Investigates requested truancy data for the 2024-2025 school year through the Texas Public Information Act. TEA officials said the data will be available on Dec. 12.