SENATE BILL 115
55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2021
INTRODUCED BY
Cliff R. Pirtle
AN ACT
RELATING TO CHILDREN; REQUIRING NOTICE TO PARENTS OR GUARDIANS IF A CHILD DOES NOT ARRIVE AT A DAYCARE CENTER, PUBLIC SCHOOL OR CHARTER SCHOOL.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] DAYCARE ATTENDANCE--NOTICE TO PARENT OR GUARDIAN.--A daycare center shall provide notice to the parent or guardian of a child if that child does not arrive at the daycare center within one hour after the child's scheduled arrival time. The daycare center shall contact the parent or guardian one hour after the child has not arrived at the daycare center to inform the parent or guardian of the child's non-arrival. A daycare center shall not provide notice to a parent or guardian if the parent or guardian has already provided an excuse for the child not attending daycare that day. The parent or guardian of a child receiving daycare services shall provide the daycare center with their preferred method of contact for these notices.
SECTION 2. Section 22-12A-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2019, Chapter 223, Section 4) is amended to read:
"22-12A-4. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE--RESPONSIBILITY--PRIVATE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICIES.--
A. Except as otherwise provided in the Public School Code, a school-age person shall attend public school, private school, home school or a state institution until the school-age person is at least eighteen years of age unless that school-age person has graduated from high school, received a high school equivalency credential or withdrawn from school on a hardship waiver. A parent may give written, signed permission for the school-age person to leave school between the ages of sixteen and eighteen in case of hardship approved by the local superintendent or private school.
B. A school-age person subject to the provisions of the Attendance for Success Act shall attend school for at least the length of time of the school year that is established in that school-age person's school district, charter school or private school. The school district or private school shall not excuse a school-age person from attending school except as provided in that act.
C. The parent of a school-age person subject to the provisions of the Attendance for Success Act is responsible for the school attendance of that school-age person. If a school-age person does not arrive at school within one hour after the school-age person's scheduled arrival time, the school shall notify the parent of that school-age person of the school-age person's non-arrival. A school shall not provide notice to a parent if the parent has already provided an excuse for the school-age person not attending school that day. The parent of a school-age person shall provide the school with their preferred method of contact for these notices.
D. Local school boards and private schools shall enforce the provisions of the Attendance for Success Act for students enrolled in their respective schools.
E. A private school in this state shall have an attendance policy that as closely as practicable follows the law for public schools. A school-age person attending a private school and the school-age person's parent shall be given a copy of the private school's attendance policy each year."
SECTION 3. Section 22-12A-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2019, Chapter 223, Section 6) is amended to read:
"22-12A-6. PUBLIC SCHOOL ATTENDANCE POLICIES-- REPORTING.--
A. A public school shall maintain an attendance policy that:
(1) establishes an early warning system that includes evidence-based metrics to identify students at risk of chronic absenteeism or excessive absenteeism;
(2) provides for early identification of chronically absent and excessively absent students;
(3) employs an attendance improvement plan that focuses on:
(a) keeping students in an educational setting;
(b) prohibiting out-of-school suspension or expulsion as the punishment for absences;
(c) assisting a student's family to remove barriers to the student's regular school attendance or attendance in another educational setting; and
(d) providing additional educational opportunities to students who are struggling with attendance;
(4) limits the ability of a student to withdraw to only after all intervention efforts by the public school or the children, youth and families department to keep the student in an educational setting have been exhausted;
(5) requires that accurate class attendance be taken for every instructional class and school day in a public school or school program;
(6) provides that a public school shall differentiate between different types of absences;
(7) requires a public school to document the following for each chronically or excessively absent student:
(a) attempts by the public school to notify a parent that the student was absent from class or the school day;
(b) attempts to improve attendance by talking to a student or parent to identify barriers to school attendance, identify solutions to improve the student's attendance behavior and discuss necessary interventions for the student or the student's family; and
(c) intervention strategies implemented to support keeping the student in an educational setting, including additional educational opportunities offered to the student;
(8) requires a student or the parent of a student who intends to claim excused absence because of medical condition, pregnancy or parenting to communicate the student's status to the appropriate school personnel and to provide required documentation; [and]
(9) encourages and supports compliant data sharing, pursuant to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, between a public school and community-based organizations that provide services to students for the purpose of providing more personalized interventions and specialized supports as part of the public school's attendance improvement plan; and
(10) requires notice to the parents of a student if that student has not arrived at the school within one hour after the student's scheduled arrival time for that day unless the parent has provided an excuse for the student not attending school that day.
B. Local school boards shall review and approve their public school attendance policies.
C. School districts shall report absences, chronic absences and excessive absences data to the department at each reporting date and the end of the school year and shall document intervention efforts made to keep students in an educational setting. The department shall compile school district reports as provided in Section [13 of the Attendance for Success Act] 22-12A-13 NMSA 1978 and require school districts to certify that the information is being reported consistently and correctly. The department shall share information from state-chartered charter schools with the commission.
D. A public school shall provide a copy of the public school's attendance policy to all parents of students in that school and publish the policy on the public school's website. The attendance policy shall include:
(1) the rights and obligations of parents and students pursuant to the Attendance for Success Act;
(2) the prevention strategies that will be implemented to ensure that students attend classes; and
(3) details about consequences of failing to adhere to the attendance policy.
E. A public school shall provide a parent, within five days of the parent's written request, with access to the attendance data of that parent's child, including information about any intervention strategies that have been employed to help the student improve the student's attendance.
F. Upon request, school districts shall provide the chronic absence rate from the most current reporting date or end-of-year report, in the aggregate and disaggregated by subgroups, for all its public schools."
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