Troubling Trends in Truancy Laws – is Wyoming Next?

by Tom Rose

In a recent Law Commentary article out of Texas, Research Associate Jason Snead of the Heritage Foundation highlights an anticipated change in Texas' truancy laws. According to the article, Texas has prosecuted over 100,000 juveniles for Class C misdemeanors merely for truancy. Although my own research completely contradicts Mr. Snead's contention that Texas was one of only two states prosecuting children for truancy, his article accurately highlights some of the ludicrous contradictions that we see in juvenile justice issues all the time.

An earlier article out of New Republic claims that discriminatory truancy laws unfairly target the poor. While I will admit that I haven't thoroughly examined this claim of income discrimination, there is no question that several states have not only criminally prosecuted truant students but also their parents.

Perhaps more insidious are states that have managed to decriminalize truancy but have merely replaced the criminal justice system with the Department of Family Services, (DFS). South Carolina's Children's Law Center has gone so far as to publish an informational pamphlet for parents who are facing allegations of Educational Neglect from DFS for their child's truancy.

With Wyoming finally considering the decriminalization of status offenses which would include truancy we need to examine these related issues honestly in order to avoid the pitfalls through which other states have eroded civil and parental rights.

As a not very enthusiastic former student myself I find that while I am both sympathetic and outraged at the impossible situations for families which are exacerbated by chronic truancy and the way schools are handling it, I find myself perplexed at what I see as the bigger issue. According to Wikipedia, public education has been around since the 17^th century.

Obama's 2015 educational proposal to Congress includes a 69 Billion dollar "discretionary appropriation budget. Undoubtedly all of the "Special Needs" and "Learning Disabilities" that have been created – I mean discovered – this year have their own funding. So with all of this funding for such a historically well-established institution how is it that nobody has managed to turn the motivation around and make school some place the students actually want to be. You can't tell me it can't be done. Summer camps and vacation day programs do it all the time on shoestring budgets with entry-level staff.

But education is different, you say, camp is all about games. So think of your favorite teacher – any grade or school setting. Many of you are smiling as you remember some game or activity with this favorite teacher which didn't even feel like learning. So why can't some of the vast educational budget be spent on "truancy prevention and aversion" programs and perhaps every school district should have a "retention specialist" whose entire purpose is to ensure that the juveniles in their district are properly motivated to attend school. In this way we also put our public schools in the position of helping parents with their family's truancy issues rather than further penalizing them for what they must already know is a problem. Make no mistake, substituting criminal court actions with Department of Family Services action does not constitute any sort of victory for families. In many cases the Due Process at least nominally extended during criminal court procedures is entirely absent during DFS procedures.

This week's final word on truancy law reform: Let's embrace the right change and look for effective innovative solutions. Let's also not invite the foxes into the henhouse to guard our chickens.