Truancy bills propose to revamp data collection in California schools
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Los Angeles County has a truancy rate of 20.5 percent among elementary school students, almost double that of neighboring Orange County.
New state legislation that would standardize public school attendance records and track truancy interventions was announced by California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Monday. Her office estimates 1 million elementary students were truant at least one day last school year, costing schools $1.4 billion in lost funds.
"Let's track and figure out where are kids are," Harris said. "And, when they are not in school, it then begs that question, 'What's going on?'"
The bill package does not mandate nor fund interventions, such as transportation assistance or childcare services. It only requires that records of such interventions be kept.
According to to the bills' supporters, California is one of only four states in the country that does not collect student attendance data. AB 1866 would mandate the California Department of Education begin keeping records of absenteeism and truancy, and SB 1107 would require the Attorney General to submit an annual report as Harris began doing last year.
Harris found Los Angeles County to have a truancy rate of 20.5 percent among