New Truancy Report From State
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A new state education report says poor and minority students are more likely to be labeled as truants in Washington.
Washington's truancy law says if a student has seven unexcused absences in the month or 10 in a year, he or she is truant. The school district is required to file a truancy petition in juvenile court, but according to the 2015 state truancy report, that only happens in about a third of the cases.
High school students who are reported as truants are disproportionately students of color, low-income students or in special education.
Another finding of the report is that more than 60-percent of high school students who are labeled truant drop out before graduating.
The report recommends the state expand truancy services to all juvenile courts and school districts.