Sec. 25.0916. UNIFORM TRUANCY POLICIES IN CERTAIN COUNTIES.
(a) This section applies only to a county with two or more courts hearing truancy cases and two or more school districts.
(b) A committee shall be established to recommend a uniform truancy policy for each school district located in the county.
(c) Unless the county has already adopted a uniform truancy policy under this section, not later than January 1, 2016, the county judge or the county judge's designee and the mayor of the municipality in the county with the greatest population or the mayor's designee shall each appoint one member to serve on the committee as a representative of each of the following:
(1) a juvenile court;
(2) a municipal court;
(3) the office of a justice of the peace;
(4) the superintendent or designee of an independent school district;
(5) an open-enrollment charter school, if one exists in the county;
(6) the office of the prosecutor with original truancy jurisdiction in the county; and
(7) the general public.
(c-1) In addition to the members listed in Subsection (c), the chief juvenile probation officer or the officer's designee serves on the committee. The county judge or the county judge's designee and the mayor of the municipality in the county with the greatest population or the mayor's designee may make additional appointments as needed.
(d) Repealed by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 935 , Sec. 41(2), eff. September 1, 2015.
(e) The county judge and mayor of the municipality in the county with the greatest population shall:
(1) both serve on the committee or appoint representatives to serve on their behalf; and
(2) jointly appoint a member of the committee to serve as the presiding officer.
(f) Unless a county has already adopted a uniform truancy policy under this section, not later than May 1, 2016, the committee shall recommend:
(1) a uniform process for filing truancy cases with truancy courts;
(2) uniform administrative procedures;
(3) uniform deadlines for processing truancy cases;
(4) a local plan with strategies to address truancy, including effective prevention, intervention, and diversion methods to reduce truancy and referrals to a truancy court;
(5) a system for tracking truancy information and sharing truancy information among school districts, open-enrollment charter schools, truancy courts, juvenile courts, and juvenile probation departments in the county; and
(6) any changes to statutes or state agency rules the committee determines are necessary to address truancy.
(g) Compliance with the committee recommendations is voluntary.
(h) The committee's presiding officer shall issue a report not later than December 1, 2017, to the county judge and mayor of the municipality with the greatest population in the county on the implementation of the recommendations and compliance with state truancy laws by a school district located in the county.
(i) This section expires January 1, 2018.
Added by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 923 (H.B. 1479), Sec. 1, eff. June 14, 2013.
Amended by:
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 935 (H.B. 2398), Sec. 10, eff. September 1, 2015.
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 935 (H.B. 2398), Sec. 41(2), eff. September 1, 2015.
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