AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on the Legislature’s Education Committee on Tuesday agreed to change the state’s truancy laws in an effort to help school districts improve attendance for students under the age of 7.
The bill, LD 311, offered by state Sen. Nathan Libby, D-Lewiston, was meant to address concerns from Lewiston Schools Superintendent Bill Webster over the poor attendance records for many of the school system’s 5- and 6-year-olds.
Libby’s original bill would have allowed school districts to lower their mandatory age for attendance to 5, but the measure saw opposition from home-schooling groups and others who wanted to be able to make changes to a child’s program of education prior to the age of 7.
Maine law requires all children, by the age of 7, to be enrolled in a public school or an alternative education program approved by state and local education officials.
The Education Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a law change that allows parents to withdraw a student, under the age of 7, from school within the first 45 days of school enrollment.
If the student has attended more than 45 days, the parents must first consult local school officials before withdrawing the student. The change will help give schools better notice when a child is being withdrawn from school and helps distinguish between that and truancy.
Under the change, students under the age of 7 would be subject to the state’s truancy laws if their parents had voluntarily enrolled them in a Maine public school system but they were not showing up for class. Current law says only those 7 and older are subject to the state’s truancy laws.
Webster said the change is a step in the right direction for Lewiston schools, which have increasingly seen younger students missing too many school days. The change would allow Webster and other school officials to more effectively address truancy problems with younger students.
“This will be a great improvement over our existing situation and it gives us an important tool as we deal with families that have 5- and 6-year-olds,” Webster said following the committee’s vote.
During a public hearing on the bill earlier this month, Lewiston school officials told the committee that last year, 16 percent of kindergarten students and 14 percent of first-graders were chronically absent, or missed 10 percent or more of school days.
So far, 2015 figures are a bit better but still too high, Lewiston Assistant Superintendent of Schools Tom Jarvis said. About 13 percent of kindergartners and 11 percent of first-graders have been chronically absent so far this year, Jarvis said.
Webster said more affluent school districts are unlikely to see a similar problem, but for Lewiston, younger students who are missing too much are falling behind and school officials, under state law, have little ability to deal with it.
“My interest is in protecting those kids who are not in school and are getting further and further behind every day,” Webster said.
The bill will now face additional votes in the House and Senate.
At Ed Committee session re school attendance bill. Got the last parking spot as Capitol is overwhelmed with people. pic.twitter.com/q3vumpUkoH
— Bill Webster (@LewistonSuper) March 24, 2015
Send questions/comments to the editors.
