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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Swisstack
DATE TYPED 02/22/05 HB 955
SHORT TITLE School District Attendance Policies
SB
ANALYST Chabot
APPROPRIATION
Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY05
FY06
FY05
FY06
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Public Education Department (PED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 955 amends Sections 22-8-2 (Definitions) and 22-12-9 (Unexcused Absences and
Truancy—Attendance Policies) of the Public School Act. In the first section, the definition of
“membership” excludes truants and habitual truants from being withdrawn from the district en-
rollment, and the district is required to intervene and attempt to keep these students in an educa-
tional setting. The section requires each school district to uses withdrawal only after “exhausting
efforts to keep students in educational settings” and requires documentation of efforts to do so.
Significant Issues
PED states “this bill addresses the seeming inconsistency of a section of the Public School Fi-
nance Act that permits disenrollment of students after 10 consecutive absences with the obliga-
tion in the Compulsory School Attendance Law to engage in early identification and intervention
of students who are truant so that they remain in school.”
The bill supports PED and Governor’s legislative initiatives.