Bill to Decriminalize Truancy Moves Forward in Texas

...while a similar bill in Colorado gets watered down.

Some good news from Texas:

Law for Kids

Riding a passionate, sometimes heated appeal from a leading Democrat, the Texas Senate on Wednesday endorsed a plan to end criminal penalties for students who skip school.

More than 100,000 Texas students a year face Class C misdemeanors, and criminal records, for truancy violations that are handled in adult court—endangering their future applications for housing, college and the military, said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston….

Whitmire's Senate Bill 106—approved 26-5 Wednesday and sent to the House—would treat truancy as a civil court matter, allowing municipal court judges and justices of the peace to remain involved in the process but removing their ability to assess a criminal penalty.

The new bill would still allow the authorities to levy fines on families whose kids regularly skip school, but it's a substantial step in the right direction. It is both unjust and ridiculous to treat truancy as a criminal matter.

In related news, a measure to decriminalize truancy in Colorado—previously covered in Reason here and here—just got watered down.

Comments

[Hyperion]

Yeah, but let them call marijuana by the correct name of cannabis and it’s off to the gulags with the little truants.

[Episiarch]

I remember the first time the concept of truancy and truant officers was introduced to me. It was while watching one of the Witch Mountain movies as a kid, I think Escape from Witch Mountain. I was stunned that there was a guy in a van going around trying to capture children during school hours because they weren’t in school. I thought “isn’t that…kidnapping?”

[tarran]

It’s fucking worse than that….

[RBS]

Do you hear that Bart? That was the tardy bell.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

At the very least reform the law so that a misdemeanor doesn’t affect a minor’s future applications for housing, college and the military.

[Spencer]

This is good. I took my oldest son to a professional conference with me last week. He hates school and loves books. It was a good choice by me. Officially, I guess, he was potentially unlawful in his absence.

[Heroic Mulatto]

*looks at picture*

This Dora fanfic isn’t going to end well.

[Tommy_Grand]

The downside of this bill is that eliminating the criminal aspect drains all steam out of the movement to make truancy no court matter at all (civil or criminal), but I suppose we can’t afford to let perfect become the enemy of good.