State Bill Would Crack Down on Truants : Legislation to Lower Grades for Habitual ‘Excused’ Absences

In an effort to crack down on habitual truants, state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) is pushing a bill that would allow teachers to reduce a student’s grade for excessive absences, even those excused by parents.

“Since some parents are all too willing to simply write notes over and over again for their children, rather than insist they attend class, this measure was necessary so that our school system can complete the mission the people of California insist it do,” Seymour said.

The bill would allow school districts to adopt the plan but would not require it. And it leaves the definition of excessive absences to the individual districts.

Seymour said he introduced the bill at the urging of “a number of teachers and administrators in Orange County.”

No Organized Opposition

The bill, SB 657, recently passed the Senate 37 to 0. It is now pending before the Assembly Education Committee, and Seymour and other legislative officials say it has no known organized opposition.

The state Department of Education, however, has raised some questions about the bill.

“We have a neutral stand on it, but some of our concerns are that the bill as it’s now worded doesn’t mandate an appeal process, and we think some students who may have been genuinely sick could be penalized,” said Susan Lange, press secretary for the department in Sacramento.

Lange said state education officials also worry that the bill might “be doubly punitive to kids who already have problems--our approach would rather be to try to prevent this kind of thing (excessive truancy) from occurring.”

Nonetheless, the powerful state Department of Education has made no move to try to change the bill or halt its progress in the Legislature.

Improve Educational System

Seymour said the only opposition he has received has been “a couple of letters from parents” questioning the wisdom of the bill. He said he answered the letters by saying that California is trying to reform and improve its educational system and that taxpayers are demanding results from increased appropriations to schools. Education simply can’t take place, Seymour pointed out, if students don’t attend.

“We must instill in our young people the importance of school and the importance of class to develop the skills they will need to compete in our ever-expanding, complex economy,” Seymour said. He added that some students forge parental “excuses” and use them to cover up their habitual truancy.

Existing state law allows school districts to lower students’ grades for unexcused absences. Seymour’s bill would allow districts to judge if “excused” absences, in effect, shouldn’t really be excused.

Supporters of the bill include the state attorney general’s office, the California Teachers Assn., the California Assn. of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance and the California School Nurses Assn.

Seymour said several school districts in Orange County, including Orange Unified, are formally in support of the bill.

“Some teachers in Orange Unified were among those who urged me to introduce this legislation,” Seymour said. “There hasn’t been any opposition. Not a single dissenting vote in the Senate.” Seymour added that he expects the Assembly will pass the bill and the governor will sign it.

“The bill doesn’t require a district to do this,” Seymour said. “If the bill required every district to accept this, we’d have to provide state money because it would be a mandated program. My feeling is that this is the sort of thing every district should want to do.”