SENATE BILL 189

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Jane M. Garcia

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE; CHANGING TERMS AND NOTICE PROVISIONS; CLARIFYING HOW UNEXCUSED ABSENCES ARE DETERMINED; REQUIRING REPORTS.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 22-8-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 128, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-8-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public School Finance Act:

          A. "ADM" or "MEM" means membership;

          B. "membership" means the total enrollment of qualified students on the current roll of a class or school on a specified day. The current roll is established by the addition of original entries and reentries minus withdrawals. Withdrawals of students, in addition to students formally withdrawn from the public school, include students absent from the public school for as many as ten consecutive school days; provided that withdrawals do not include [truants] students in need of early intervention and habitual truants the school district is required to intervene with and keep in an educational setting as provided in Section 22-12-9 NMSA 1978;

          C. "basic program ADM" or "basic program MEM" means the MEM of qualified students but excludes the full-time-equivalent MEM in early childhood education and three- and four-year-old students receiving special education services;

          D. "cost differential factor" is the numerical expression of the ratio of the cost of a particular segment of the school program to the cost of the basic program in grades four through six;

          E. "department" or "division" means the public education department;

          F. "early childhood education ADM" or "early childhood education MEM" means the full-time-equivalent MEM of students attending approved early childhood education programs;

          G. "full-time-equivalent ADM" or "full-time-equivalent MEM" is that membership calculated by applying to the MEM in an approved public school program the ratio of the number of hours per school day devoted to the program to six hours or the number of hours per school week devoted to the program to thirty hours;

          H. "operating budget" means the annual financial plan required to be submitted by a local school board or governing body of a state-chartered charter school;

          I. "program cost" is the product of the total number of program units to which a school district is entitled multiplied by the dollar value per program unit established by the legislature;

          J. "program element" is that component of a public school system to which a cost differential factor is applied to determine the number of program units to which a school district is entitled, including but not limited to MEM, full-time-equivalent MEM, teacher, classroom or public school;

          K. "program unit" is the product of the program element multiplied by the applicable cost differential factor;

          L. "public money" or "public funds" means all money from public or private sources received by a school district or state-chartered charter school or officer or employee of a school district or state-chartered charter school for public use;

          M. "qualified student" means a public school student who:

                (1) has not graduated from high school;

                (2) is regularly enrolled in one-half or more of the minimum course requirements approved by the department for public school students; and

                (3) in terms of age:

                     (a) is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year; [or

                     (4)] (b) is at least three years of age at any time during the school year and is receiving special education services pursuant to rules of the department; or

                     [(5)] (c) has not reached the student's

twenty-second birthday on the first day of the school year and is receiving special education services pursuant to rules of the department; and

          N. "state superintendent" means the secretary of public education or the secretary's designee."

     Section 2. Section 22-12-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 175, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-12-7. ENFORCEMENT OF ATTENDANCE LAW--HABITUAL TRUANTS--PENALTY.--

          A. Each local school board and each governing body of a charter school or private school shall initiate the enforcement of the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law for students enrolled in their respective schools.

          B. To initiate enforcement of the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law against an habitual truant, a local school board or governing body of a charter school or private school or its authorized representatives shall give written notice of the habitual truancy by [certified] mail to or by personal service on the parent of the student subject to and in noncompliance with the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law. The notice shall include a date, time and place for the parent to meet with the local school district, charter school or private school to develop intervention strategies that focus on keeping the student in an educational setting.

          C. If unexcused absences continue after written notice of habitual truancy as provided in Subsection B of this section has occurred, the student shall be reported to the probation services office of the judicial district where the student resides for an investigation as to whether the student shall be considered to be a neglected child or a child in a family in need of services because of habitual truancy and thus subject to the provisions of the Children's Code. The probation services office may send a written notice to a parent of the student directing the parent and student to report to the probation services office to discuss services for the student or the family. In addition to any other disposition, the children's court may order the habitual truant's driving privileges to be suspended for a specified time not to exceed ninety days on the first finding of habitual truancy and not to exceed one year for a subsequent finding of habitual truancy.

          D. If, after review by the juvenile probation office where the student resides, a determination and finding is made that the habitual truancy by the student may have been caused by the parent of the student, then the matter will be referred by the juvenile probation office to the district attorney's office or any law enforcement agency having jurisdiction for appropriate investigation and filing of charges allowed under the Compulsory School Attendance Law. Charges against the parent may be filed in metropolitan court, magistrate court or district court.

          E. A parent of the student who, after receiving written notice as provided in Subsection B of this section and after the matter has been reviewed in accordance with Subsection D of this section, knowingly allows the student to continue to violate the Compulsory School Attendance Law shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor. Upon the first conviction, a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or more than one hundred dollars ($100) may be imposed, or the parent of the student may be ordered to perform community service. If violations of the Compulsory School Attendance Law continue, upon the second and subsequent convictions, the parent of the student who knowingly allows the student to continue to violate the Compulsory School Attendance Law shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment for a definite term not to exceed six months or both.

          F. The provisions of this section shall apply beginning July 1, 2004."

     Section 3. Section 22-12-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1985, Chapter 104, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-12-8. EARLY IDENTIFICATION--UNEXCUSED ABSENCES AND TRUANCY.--Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 22-12-7 NMSA 1978, if a student is [truant] in need of early intervention, the school district, [or] charter school or private school shall contact the student's parent to inform the parent that the student [is truant] has unexcused absences from school and to discuss possible interventions. The provisions of this section do not apply to any absence if the parent has contacted the school to explain the absence."

     Section 4. Section 22-12-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2004, Chapter 28, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-12-9. UNEXCUSED ABSENCES AND TRUANCY--ATTENDANCE POLICIES.--

          A. As used in this section and Sections 22-12-7 and 22-12-8 NMSA 1978:

                (1) "habitual truant" means a student who has accumulated the equivalent of ten or more unexcused absences within a school year;

                (2) ["truant"] "student in need of early intervention" means a student who has accumulated five unexcused absences within [any twenty-day period] a school year; and

                (3) "unexcused absence" means an absence from school or [a class] classes for which the student does not have an allowable excuse pursuant to the Compulsory School Attendance Law or rules of the local school board or governing authority of a charter school or private school.

          B. An unexcused absence of two or more classes up to fifty percent of an instructional day shall be counted as one-half day absence, and the unexcused absence of more than fifty percent of an instructional day shall be counted as one full-day absence.

          [B.] C. Each school district, [and] charter school and private school shall maintain an attendance policy that:

                (1) provides for early identification of students with unexcused absences, [truants] students in need of early intervention and habitual truants and provides intervention strategies that focus on keeping [truants] students in need of early intervention in an educational setting and prohibit out-of-school suspension and expulsion as the punishment for unexcused absences and habitual truancy;

                (2) uses withdrawal as provided in Section

22-8-2 NMSA 1978 only after exhausting intervention efforts to keep students in educational settings; [and]

                (3) requires that class attendance be taken for every instructional day in every public school or school program in the school district; and

               (4) provides for schools to document the following for each student identified as a habitual truant:

                     (a) attempts of the school to notify the parent that the student had unexcused absences;

                     (b) attempts of the school to meet with the parent to discuss intervention strategies; and

                     (c) intervention strategies implemented to support keeping the student in school.

          D. School districts, charter schools and private schools may create policies that allow referral to the probation services office of students who consistently are absent without excuse for one class period or for less than one-half day.

          E. The department shall review and approve school district and charter school attendance policies.

          [C.] F. School districts and charter schools shall report [truancy] unexcused absences and habitual truancy rates to the department in a form and at such times as the department determines and shall document intervention efforts made to keep [truants] students in need of early intervention and habitual truants in educational settings. Locally chartered charter schools shall provide copies of their reports to the school district. The department shall compile school district and charter school reports on rates of unexcused absences and habitual truancy and verify that the information is being reported consistently."

     Section 5. Section 32A-3B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 77, Section 74, as amended) is amended to read:

     "32A-3B-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in Chapter 32A, Article 3B NMSA 1978, "family in need of court-ordered services" means the child or the family has refused family services or the department has exhausted appropriate and available family services and court intervention is necessary to provide family services to the child or family and the following circumstances exist:

          A. it is a family whose child, subject to compulsory school attendance, is absent from school without an authorized excuse more than ten days during a school [semester] year;

          B. it is a family whose child is absent from the child's place of residence for a time period of twelve hours or more without consent of the child's parent, guardian or custodian; 

          C. it is a family whose child refuses to return home and there is good cause to believe that the child will run away from home if forced to return to the parent, guardian or custodian; or  

          D. it is a family in which the child's parent, guardian or custodian refuses to allow the child to return home and a petition alleging neglect of the child is not in the child's best interests."

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