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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | November 13, 2015 04:15 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Karen Boback |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Truancy |
| Keeping kids engaged in school is essential for improving the lives of Pennsylvania's children. Current Pennsylvania truancy laws are unclear and, at times, have the unintentional effect of actually making it harder for children and families to get and stay connected with school. In the near future, I will be introducing a legislative package aimed at clarifying our truancy laws in order to make them more effective in re-engaging students and more understandable and easy to navigate for families, students, schools and courts. Specifically, this legislation: 1) defines and codifies the use of a school attendance improvement conference; 2) requires that the outcome of the conference be documented; 3) clarifies that the existing fine of up to $300 is per cited offense; 4) clarifies that a citation for truancy may include multiple unexcused absences; 5) clarifies that truancy instances are limited to those within the same school term; 6) establishes that all records of truancy convictions are expunged after the child reaches 18; 7) streamlines truancy proceedings by requiring that multiple citations for truancy be incorporated into a single proceeding for disposition; 8) clarifies the existing practice that foster parents are not to be considered a person in parental relation for these proceedings; 9) clarifies the definition of a "school term"; 10) clarifies that truancy proceedings cannot be instituted by private criminal complaint; 11) provides magistrates with discretion to make case-by-case dispositions based on the facts presented; 12) establishes that the local Children and Youth Agency receive notice of all truancy proceedings, and 13) removes "habitual truancy" as a basis for a child to be transferred to an Alternative Education for Disruptive Youth program (AEDY) By clarifying our truancy laws and streamlining the court process, we will make our attendance laws more effective and better enforced. Most importantly, for our students, these changes will make the truancy process foreseeable, reliable and directed at ending a student's truancy problems, rather than simply punitive. Please join me in cosponsoring this legislation which has the support of multiple agencies. |