HOUSE BILL 94

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Dennis J. Kintigh

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; PROVIDING FOR EACH LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD TO AUTHORIZE A SCHOOL DISTRICT EMPLOYEE TO APPEAR AND PROSECUTE IN MAGISTRATE AND METROPOLITAN COURTS PETTY MISDEMEANOR VIOLATIONS OF THE COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE LAW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. 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--PROSECUTION.--

          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] a 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 regular and registered 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. The notice shall include a date, time and place for the parent to meet with the local school district, charter school or private school to develop intervention strategies that focus on keeping the student in an educational setting.

          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 services for the student or the family. 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], a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction or the involved local school board 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, as appropriate.

          E. If a referral has not yet occurred pursuant to Subsection D of this section and a local school board has determined that the habitual truancy by a student may have been caused by the parent of the student, the local school board may independently authorize enforcement of the Compulsory School Attendance Law pursuant to Subsection F of this section.

          [E.] F. 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.]

          G. Each local school board may appoint an employee of the school district, who need not be an attorney licensed to practice law in this state, to institute in magistrate court or metropolitan court an action for a misdemeanor violation of the Compulsory School Attendance Law when authorized to do so by the local school board. The employee appointed and authorized pursuant to this subsection shall appear on behalf of the local school board and school district and prosecute the action as provided in the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the Magistrate Courts or the Rules of Criminal Procedure for the Metropolitan Courts adopted by the New Mexico supreme court."