HOUSE BILL 449
48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007
INTRODUCED BY
Thomas E. Swisstack
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; AMENDING THE COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE LAW; PROVIDING FOR ADDITIONAL TRUANCY REPORTING AND REFERRAL; CHANGING A DEFINITION; RECONCILING MULTIPLE AMENDMENTS TO THE SAME SECTION OF LAW IN LAWS 1997.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 22-12-2.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986, Chapter 33, Section 27, as amended by Laws 1997, Chapter 239, Section 1 and also by Laws 1997, Chapter 245, Section 1) is amended to read:
"22-12-2.1. INTERSCHOLASTIC EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES--STUDENT PARTICIPATION.--
A. A student shall have a 2.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale, or its equivalent, either cumulatively or for the grading period immediately preceding participation, in order to be eligible to participate in any interscholastic extracurricular activity. For purposes of this section, "grading period" is a period of time not less than six weeks. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to students receiving moderate to maximum special education services.
B. No student shall be absent from school for school-sponsored interscholastic extracurricular activities in excess of fifteen days per semester, and no class may be missed in excess of fifteen times per semester.
C. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this section apply only to interscholastic extracurricular activities.
D. The [state superintendent] secretary may issue a waiver relating to the number of absences for participation in any state or national competition. The [state superintendent] secretary shall develop a procedure for petitioning cumulative provision eligibility cases, similar to other eligibility situations.
E. Student standards for participation in interscholastic extracurricular activities shall be applied beginning with a student's academic record in grade nine."
Section 2. Section 22-12-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 175, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-12-7. ENFORCEMENT OF ATTENDANCE LAW--HABITUAL TRUANTS--PENALTY.--
A. Each local school board and each governing body of a charter school or private school shall initiate the enforcement of the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law for students enrolled in their respective schools.
B. To initiate enforcement of the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law against an habitual truant, a local school board or governing body of a charter school or private school or its authorized representatives shall give written notice of the habitual truancy by certified mail to or by personal service on the parent of the student subject to and in noncompliance with the provisions of the Compulsory School Attendance Law.
C. If unexcused absences continue after written notice of habitual truancy as provided in Subsection B of this section has occurred, the student shall be reported to the probation services office of the judicial district where the student resides for an investigation as to whether the student shall be considered to be a neglected child or a child in a family in need of services because of habitual truancy and thus subject to the provisions of the Children's Code. The probation services office may send a written notice to a parent of the student directing the parent and student to report to the probation services office to discuss family services for the student or the family. When a student is twelve years of age or younger, the probation services office or the student's school shall make a referral to the protective services division of the children, youth and families department to determine if an investigation is warranted. If the protective services division does not conduct an investigation, the division shall communicate that determination to the probation services office or the school that made the referral. If the protective services division does conduct an investigation, upon completion of its investigation, the division shall provide its report to the probation services office or the school that made the referral. In addition to any other disposition, the children's court may order the habitual truant's driving privileges to be suspended for a specified time not to exceed ninety days on the first finding of habitual truancy and not to exceed one year for a subsequent finding of habitual truancy.
D. If, after review by the juvenile probation office where the student resides, a determination and finding is made that the habitual truancy by the student may have been caused by the parent of the student, then the matter will be referred by the juvenile probation office to the district attorney's office or any law enforcement agency having jurisdiction for appropriate investigation and filing of charges allowed under the Compulsory School Attendance Law. Charges against the parent may be filed in metropolitan court, magistrate court or district court.
E. A parent of the student who, after receiving written notice as provided in Subsection B of this section and after the matter has been reviewed in accordance with Subsection D of this section, knowingly allows the student to continue to violate the Compulsory School Attendance Law shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor. Upon the first conviction, a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or more than one hundred dollars ($100) may be imposed, or the parent of the student may be ordered to perform community service. If violations of the Compulsory School Attendance Law continue, upon the second and subsequent convictions, the parent of the student who knowingly allows the student to continue to violate the Compulsory School Attendance Law shall be guilty of a petty misdemeanor and shall be subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment for a definite term not to exceed six months or both.
[F. The provisions of this section shall apply beginning July 1, 2004.]"
Section 3. Section 22-12-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2004, Chapter 28, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-12-9. UNEXCUSED ABSENCES AND TRUANCY--ATTENDANCE POLICIES.--
A. As used in this section and Sections 22-12-7 and 22-12-8 NMSA 1978:
(1) "habitual truant" means a student who has accumulated the equivalent of ten or more unexcused absences within a school year;
(2) "truant" means a student who has accumulated five unexcused absences within [any twenty-day period] a school year; and
(3) "unexcused absence" means an absence from school or a class for which the student does not have an allowable excuse pursuant to the Compulsory School Attendance Law or rules of the local school board or governing authority of a charter school or private school.
B. Each school district and charter school shall maintain an attendance policy that:
(1) provides for early identification of students with unexcused absences, truants and habitual truants and provides intervention strategies that focus on keeping truants in an educational setting and prohibit out-of-school suspension and expulsion as the punishment for truancy;
(2) uses withdrawal as provided in Section
22-8-2 NMSA 1978 only after exhausting efforts to keep students in educational settings; and
(3) requires that class attendance be taken for every instructional day in every public school or school program in the school district.
C. School districts and charter schools shall report truancy and habitual truancy rates to the department in a form and at such times as the department determines and shall document efforts made to keep truants and habitual truants in educational settings. Locally chartered charter schools shall provide copies of their reports to the school district."
Section 4. Section 32A-3A-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 77, Section 64, as amended) is amended to read:
"32A-3A-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Family Services Act:
A. "child or family in need of family services" means:
(1) a family whose child's behavior endangers the child's health, safety, education or well-being;
(2) a family whose child is absent from the child's place of residence for twenty-four hours or more without the consent of the parent, guardian or custodian;
(3) a family in which the parent, guardian or custodian of a child refuses to permit the child to live with the parent, guardian or custodian; [or]
(4) a family in which the child refuses to live with [his] the child's parent, guardian or custodian; [and] or
(5) a family whose child has accumulated the equivalent of ten or more unexcused absences within a school year; and
B. "family services" means services that address
specific needs of the child or family."
Section 5. Section 32A-3A-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 77, Section 66, as amended) is amended to read:
"32A-3A-4. REFERRAL PROCESS.--
A. The department shall, subject to the availability of resources, design and implement a referral process to assist a child or family in accessing appropriate services.
B. Upon a determination that a child or family is in need of family services, the department may send a written notice to the family directing the family to report to the probation services office of the judicial district where the family resides to discuss family services for the child or family.
[B.] C. When the child involved in the referral process is an Indian child, the assessment and referral process shall include contact with the Indian child's tribe for the purpose of consulting and exchanging information."
Section 6. Section 32A-3B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 77, Section 74) is amended to read:
"32A-3B-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in Chapter [32] 32A, Article 3B NMSA 1978, "family in need of court-ordered services" means the child or the family has refused family services or the department has exhausted appropriate and available family services and court intervention is necessary to provide family services to the child or family and the following circumstances exist:
A. it is a family whose child, subject to compulsory school attendance, is absent from school without an authorized excuse more than ten days [during] within a school [semester] year;
B. it is a family whose child is absent from the child's place of residence for a time period of twenty-four hours or more without consent of the child's parent, guardian or custodian;
C. it is a family whose child refuses to return home and there is good cause to believe that the child will run away from home if forced to return to [his] the parent, guardian or custodian; or
D. it is a family in which the child's parent, guardian or custodian refuses to allow the child to return home and a petition alleging neglect of the child is not in the child's best interests."
Section 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2007.
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