The Operating Budget enacted several changes to Ohio laws governing school policy on truancy, chronic absenteeism, and absence intervention. The likely fiscal effect of these reforms is that school spending will shift from compliance activities to prevention and intervention.

Grade Level Promotion

H.B. 96 removed the requirement that a school district not promote a student to the next grade level if the student has been truant for more than 10% of the required school days.

Filing a Truancy Complaint in Juvenile Court

The budget eliminated the timeline for school district attendance officers to file a complaint in juvenile court against a truant student. This includes a removal of the requirement that when a student’s absences persist after the school has made meaningful attempts to reengage the student, a school must file a complaint to juvenile court not later than 61 days after a plan was implemented by the absence intervention team.

The filing is now solely based on whether the student’s progress in improving attendance is satisfactory. Now, the Act requires a truancy complaint in juvenile court only if the school district makes a determination that the student’s progress in improving attendance is unsatisfactory. If the school determines that satisfactory progress has been made in this area, the attendance officer shall not file a complaint.

A complaint filed in juvenile court must allege that the child is an “unruly child for being a habitual truant” and that the parent or guardian has violated their duty to cause the child to be in school. The meaning of “habitual truant” remains unchanged, and still refers to a “student of compulsory school age who is absent without legitimate excuse . . . for 30 or more consecutive hours, 42 or more hours in one school month, or 72 or more hours in a school year.”

Driver Education Excused Absences

The Act allows for up to 8 hours of excused absence for a student if they are “absent from school for the sole purpose of attending a driver education course.” The student can be absent for up to two hours a day for no more than four days. These days may be consecutive or nonconsecutive. The student may not be released from a core curriculum subject to attend such a course. The district must require that a student who utilizes this time complete any missed classroom assignments.

Under the Act, a “driver education course” refers to a private driver training approved by the director of public safety in accordance with Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4508, which governs Driver Training Schools.