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 Reasonhere and here—just got watered down.
The White House is proposing an 8.4 percent boost in discretionary spending, which comes on top of Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill, and his proposed $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan.
