07-03-2025
New Texas bill could unlock ‘mystery' of what happens to students in truancy court
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Newly filed legislation by a state senator could shore up the state's collection of truancy court information and provide lawmakers and education leaders with a clearer picture of how the civil penalty system is affecting students.
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed Senate Bill 1850 Tuesday. The bill would add numerous data related to truancy cases to be collected by the Office of Court Administration from justice of the peace and municipal courts where the cases are handled. Zaffirini's district stretches from Laredo to South Austin.
Her legislation follows a KXAN investigation that found over 86,000 students were sent to court for truancy since 2016. Meanwhile, no state agency has been watching what ultimately happens to them in the process.
State lawmakers reformed the truancy system in 2015 by shifting the repercussions from criminal to civil court. Back then, lawmakers and policy experts were concerned about the severity of using criminal charges on students who missed too much class.
12,000+ Texas kids sent to court for missing class, no one tracks what happens next
Ten years later, it isn't clear how students are faring under the civil truancy regime, since nobody is monitoring outcomes across the state. But that could change with Zaffirini's bill, which followed a KXAN investigation of Texas truancy.
KXAN filed over 200 requests to local courts and school districts to get an understanding of the scope of truancy cases and the variety of remedial orders judges issued – which range from tutorial hours to requiring a student to get a G.E.D.
With no uniform standard for tracking that information, court responses left more questions than answers. Some courts keep track, some don't, some refused to say.
KXAN also found school districts are sending special education students to court. Furthermore, since the pandemic the number of truancy cases has risen steadily, with 2025 on pace to have the highest number of cases filed since 2015.
KXAN spoke with judges handling truancy conduct cases in Central Texas. We gained access to truancy court proceedings and watched numerous parents and their kids navigate the system. We also spoke with families affected by the truancy, including Rosa Yharte and her son Nathaniel Karle.
Rosa explained how her family struggled with attendance after Nathaniel's dad was charged with a sex crime – but not yet jailed – and Nathaniel feared he might encounter him at school. Nathaniel's absences mounted and, in April 2024, a constable arrived on the family's doorstep to serve Nathaniel papers referring him to court for truancy.
The entire ordeal put extreme stress on the family. Nathaniel was ultimately disenrolled from his Georgetown ISD high school and enrolled in a homeschool program.
'What about sending somebody out to the home to make sure the family is OK, to see what's going on in their situation? Instead of just OK – here's a paper, go to court,' Yharte said.
The Office of Court Administration currently tracks basic information on truancy cases, showing the number of cases filed each year in counties and cities. Zaffirini's bill would add layers of data to give lawmakers, and the public, a clearer picture of how and where truancy cases occur.
The bill would break down data by the district referring the student.
KXAN found the number of students referred to courts varies widely from one district to the next and from year to year. For example, one Williamson County school district had nearly a thousand percent increase in truancy referrals in one year – from 38 in 2022 to 408 in 2023. KXAN had to request that data from a local court to find the increase.
'JPs don't drive the docket. The docket gets driven by the schools, and then it has to go through the county attorney before we actually get it on our desk,' said Williamson County Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Judge Rhonda Redden previously said to KXAN.
Zaffirini's bill would require OCA to publish the information online for the public. The data would break down truancy information demographically to show numbers by age, sex, race, eligibility for special education services, homelessness status and more.
In addition, the bill would show how truancy case dismissal rates, reasons for dismissals, and how often different types of remedial orders are used.
Texas Appleseed Senior Staff Attorney Renuka Rege said collecting more information will help the state better understand the risk factors facing students who are referred to truancy court.
'We know that kids are being referred to truancy court and then, unfortunately, oftentimes being ordered by the court to drop out of school and get their GED,' Rege said. 'I'm very curious to see what those numbers look like, and you know, which parts of the state might be doing it more, which groups of students might be more affected by this.'
Paige Duggins-Clay, an attorney and legal analyst with the Intercultural Development Research Association, says there is no monitoring without statewide data on truancy court, which could lead to students and families ending up in court when they should not be.
'It makes sense to me that things are slipping through the cracks, and it makes sense to me that schools feel overwhelmed and frustrated with the challenge of getting young people to school,' Duggins-Clay said. 'We [have] got to support the staffing at schools to help do those interventions so they don't feel compelled to push the student into the court system and sort of pass the buck.'
State records show the truancy system has been misused. Last February, several advocacy organizations, including Disability Rights Texas and Texas Appleseed, filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency against Corpus Christi ISD, alleging the district violated students' civil rights. The groups found CCISD used truancy referrals far more often than neighboring districts, and 13% of the kids sent to court were in special education programs, according to a news release.
A TEA investigation later confirmed the allegations, according to Disability Rights.
In response, CCISD said it made a number of revisions to its truancy policy.
'It's kind of a mystery that once these students are referred to court, what is the court actually doing, what action is the court taking, and whether this is helping students,' Rege said. 'I think that it could get bipartisan support because it's simply collecting more information. We're just trying to see the data around what's happening, to find out if what we're doing is effective or not.'
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