Spring fever has hit! It is getting harder and harder to keep kids in the classroom as the warm weather sets in and as spring events take students to various extra curricular events. It is hard to get up and come to school after a late night on a bus traveling to an out of town event or a late night at a home ballgame. It takes extra effort in the spring of the year to maintain high attendance. Parents, for your students who may have missed more days than they are permitted to miss, please contact the campus principal where your child attends school to ask about make up days or Saturday school. What is the rule about attendance? Compulsory or mandatory attendance applies to students who are at least six years old as of September 1 of the applicable school year. The law requires a student to attend public school until the student’s 18th birthday. Students are required to attend 90 percent of the days that school is in session or face losing credit for the school year. Compulsory attendance applies to certain extended-year programs, tutorial classes, accelerated reading instruction programs, basic skills programs, and summer programs. Compulsory attendance also applies to students voluntarily enrolled in Pre-K or kindergarten.

There are three options for the school to enforce mandatory or compulsory attendance, as outlined in Texas Education Code §25.0951. Section 25.093 is an offense filed by the court for contributing to nonattendance, which is committed by a parent. Section 25.094 is an offense for failing to attend school, which is committed by a student. A district may file an action to enforce compulsory attendance in any justice precinct in the county in which the school is located or in which the person filed against resides. Alternatively, an action may be filed in municipal court or, in a county with a population of 2 million or more, in a constitutional county court. The third option for enforcement is to proceed against the child in juvenile court as a “child in need of supervision” under Tex. Fam. Code §51.03. Each of these three options involve law enforcement actions against the parent and child. Excused and unexcused absences hurt the student. Both of these types of absences work against the student in the 90 percent attendance requirement.

Under §25.0951(a), a complaint or referral for 10 or more absences within six months must be made within ten school days from the date of the student’s 10th absence.

Please remember that attendance at school is like a job for students in grades PK through grade 12. As adults we have to teach students that attending school is just as important as adults attending our jobs. This is preparation for students in the future.

If you have any questions about this article or any other question about school happenings, please call 325/372-3144. Don’t forget to check the website regularly for new updates – www.san-saba.net