Hard line
Oftentimes, the best statewide programs begin as local success stories. We’re hoping that is the case with a truancy bill being proposed by state Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township, that was inspired by the success of Albert Gallatin Area School District. The proposed bill grew out of the recent success of Albert Gallatin, which this past school year had its highest high school attendance rate in at least 30 years. The district has gotten tough on skippers, class cutters and wanton walkouts and has gotten results.
We applaud Albert Gallatin officials for showing that increased vigilance can have a quantifiable impact on student attendance. The district should be commended for making it a point to keep students where they should be: in class.
It was the district’s success, Mahoney said, that brought the issue of truancy to his attention. After meetings with district officials, he decided students across the state could benefit from stricter – and more uniformly enforced – truancy rules.
“[Albert Gallatin] has a stricter truancy law, wherein they tried to make parents accountable for their kids. We thought we’d try to do it statewide because most parents disregard anything they get from truancy,” said Mahoney. “There has to be accountability from parents and school districts. If we’re going to try to educate these kids, we have to get them in school.”
According to a memo from Mahoney circulated to House members, current law requires that every parent, guardian or person of a child who fails to comply with compulsory attendance requirements is sentenced to pay a fine of no more than $300 to the local school district and to pay court costs or to complete a parenting education program offered by the local school district.
Under current law, if the fine is unpaid or the parenting program not completed, the parent could then be placed in prison for no more than five days. However, the punishment for refusing to pay the fine is too weak and rarely enforced, Mahoney said.
Under Mahoney’s proposed legislation, the parenting education program option would be eliminated and parents would either have to pay the fine or risk serving five days in jail.
“Someone has to be responsible,” Mahoney said. “Somebody needs to be accountable for these kids.”
We strongly agree with Mahoney that stricter penalties and better enforcement is needed to crack down on habitual truancy. It’s no wonder parents and students ignore the law as it currently stands. We support Mahoney’s proposed bill because we feel it would change that.
Too often parents don’t emphasize the importance of going to school, which is why Mahoney stressed that the purpose of the bill was to put more emphasis on parents to be accountable. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that kids aren’t going to learn much if they’re not in school. With current law often ignored by truant students and their parents, its well past time for harsher penalties and stricter enforcement.
Unfortunately, Mahoney has received a “lukewarm” response to co-sponsoring his bill from his fellow legislators. He said much of the pushback came from urban legislators and those who feel the jail time his bill requires would end up too being costly and too harsh.
We’re glad to see Mahoney has not let these roadblocks halt the progress toward stiffer penalties for truancy. He said he is considering an amendment that would replace the jail time for those who refuse to pay the penalty with mandatory community service, for the parent or child or possibly both, a change we strongly support. We feel requiring community service over jail time is better all around, as not only serves to punish the offender but also benefits the community.
Mahoney said he is optimistic about the bill’s chances if it goes to committee, and he expects some progress within the next 30 days. We hope Mahoney’s peers get on board with the new bill, which would give much-needed teeth to truancy policies across the commonwealth.
After all, it’s pretty difficult to get an education if you’re not in class.