Texas Education Code 25.0951 – School District Complaint or Referral for Failure to Attend School
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(a) If a student fails to attend school without excuse on 10 or more days or parts of days within a six-month period in the same school year, a school district shall within 10 school days of the student’s 10th absence refer the student to a truancy court for truant conduct under § 65.003(a), Family Code.
(b) If a student fails to attend school without excuse as specified by Subsection (a), a school district may file a complaint against the student’s parent in a county, justice, or municipal court for an offense under § 25.093 if the school district provides evidence of the parent’s criminal negligence. In this subsection, “parent” includes a person standing in parental relation.
Terms Used In Texas Education Code 25.0951
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Succeeding: means immediately following. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005
(c) A court shall dismiss a complaint made by a school district under Subsection (b) that:
(1) does not comply with this section;
(2) does not allege the elements required for the offense;
(3) is not timely filed, unless the school district delayed the referral under Subsection (d); or
(4) is otherwise substantively defective.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a school district may delay a referral of a student for truant conduct, or may choose to not refer a student for truant conduct, if the school district:
(1) is applying truancy prevention measures to the student under § 25.0915; and
(2) determines that the truancy prevention measures are succeeding and it is in the best interest of the student that a referral be delayed or not be made.