Indiana lawmakers push laws against students absence from school

Faced with too many students missing school, some Indiana lawmakers want to step up enforcement of absenteeism laws, a shift that could land parents in court and jeopardize teens’ eligibility for drivers’ licenses. Many advocates and school officials are hesitant to adopt a more punitive approach, though, when the reasons kids miss school often are wrapped up in significant personal and family challenges.

Some kids miss school because they need to watch younger siblings while their parents work. Others miss school because they’re being bullied or feel overwhelming anxiety. Indiana school districts that have seen attendance improvements have achieved them by reaching out to families to understand their problems and work together to solve them.

But some officials worry parents just don’t take attendance seriously enough and that it’s hurting kids. “I don’t know what can be done, but there has to be, in my opinion, a way to hold parents of minors accountable for those students not coming to school,” Indiana State Board of Education member William Durham said at a meeting earlier this fall.

This tension between enforcing the law or engaging families isn’t new. Back in 2010, then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris championed a tougher truancy law in California that later led to some parents being arrested. Kids missing too much school, she said, was “tantamount to a crime.” By the time she was running for president, Harris faced intense criticism from the left for supporting policies that disproportionately criminalized parents of color.