SENATE BILL 481
48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007
INTRODUCED BY
Mary Kay Papen
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; REQUIRING NINETY PERCENT ATTENDANCE FOR ADVANCEMENT OR GRADUATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 22-12-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 170, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-12-2. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE--RESPONSIBILITY.--
A. Any qualified student and any person who because of the person's age is eligible to become a qualified student as defined by the Public School Finance Act until attaining the age of majority shall attend a public school, a private school, a home school or a state institution. A person shall be excused from this requirement if:
(1) the person is specifically exempted by law from the provisions of this section;
(2) the person has graduated from a high school;
(3) the person is at least seventeen years of age and has been excused by the local school board or the governing body of a state-chartered charter school or its authorized representative upon a finding that the person will be employed in a gainful trade or occupation or engaged in an alternative form of education sufficient for the person's educational needs and the person's parent consents; or
(4) with consent of the parent of the person to be excused, the person is excused from the provisions of this section by the superintendent of schools of the school district or by the head administrator of the state-chartered charter school and the person is under eight years of age.
B. A person subject to the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law shall attend school for at least the length of time of the school year that is established in the school district in which the person is a resident or the state-chartered charter school in which the person is enrolled.
C. Beginning in the ninth grade year, a person shall not advance to the next grade or graduate or receive a certificate of graduation without attending classes ninety percent of the school year as measured by daily attendance unless the person is excused from doing so:
(1) for religious instruction pursuant to Section 22-12-3 NMSA 1978;
(2) pursuant to Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection A of this section; or
(3) as shown by a certificate of employment pursuant to Section 22-12-6 NMSA 1978.
[C.] D. Any parent of a person subject to the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law is responsible for the school attendance of that person.
[D.] E. Each local school board and each governing body of a charter school or private school shall enforce the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law for students enrolled in their respective schools."
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.
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. 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.]
F. An habitual truant shall not be granted a high school diploma or a certificate of graduation if the truant has not been present a minimum of ninety percent of the current school year as measured by daily attendance unless the person is excused from doing so:
(1) for religious instruction pursuant to Section 22-12-3 NMSA 1978;
(2) pursuant to Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection A of Section 22-12-2 NMSA 1978; or
(3) as shown by a certificate of employment pursuant to Section 22-12-6 NMSA 1978.
G. An habitual truant shall not advance to the next grade."
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, the school district or charter school shall contact the student's parent to inform the parent that the student is truant, [and] to discuss possible interventions and to inform the parent that the student shall not advance to the next grade, graduate or receive a certificate of graduation without attending ninety percent of the current school year as measured by daily attendance. 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" means a student who has accumulated five unexcused absences within any twenty-day period; and
(3) "unexcused absence" means an absence from school or a class 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. Each school district and charter school shall maintain an attendance policy that:
(1) provides for early identification of students with unexcused absences, truants and habitual truants and provides intervention strategies that focus on keeping truants in an educational setting and prohibit out-of-school suspension and expulsion as the punishment for truancy;
(2) uses withdrawal as provided in Section
22-8-2 NMSA 1978 only after exhausting 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) requires a high school student to attend ninety percent of the current school year as measured by daily attendance in order to advance to the next grade or graduate or receive a certificate of graduation.
C. School districts and charter schools shall report truancy and habitual truancy rates to the department in a form and at such times as the department determines and shall document efforts made to keep truants and habitual truants in educational settings. Locally chartered charter schools shall provide copies of their reports to the school district."
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