The Texas Education Code specifies that “ten or more” UNEXCUSED absences in a semester is in violation of the compulsory attendance statutes. This writer’s intuition is that the narrative in the story is BS. For a kid to go to court the DA has to find a violation of law and the TEC specifies those conditions, so under 10+ unexcused there’s no violation of law. Getting an absence excused is easy: a parent / guardian note within three days of the absence does it. If A kid is under the “must have a doctor’s note” condition he / she is a serial offender. One mom I knew stole a pad of excuses from a doc and was writing them herself. The benefits to a strict attendance policy: more kids in school; reduced daylight juvenile crime; fewer ignorant people in society.
....more revenue for The State.
$2.9 million.
It’s a lucrative business.