II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1369

To provide for truancy prevention and reduction, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 4, 1997

Mr. DODD introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To provide for truancy prevention and reduction, and for

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prevention of Truancy

5 Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) in 1994, courts in the United States for9 mally processed 36,400 truancy cases, representing

10 a 35 percent increase since 1990, and a 67 percent
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1 increase since 1985, in the formal processing of tru2 ancy cases;

3 (2) in 1993, among individuals aged 16 through

4 24, approximately 3,400,000,000 (11 percent of all

5 individuals in this age group) had not completed

6 high school and were not enrolled in school;

7 (3) the economic and social costs of providing

8 for the increasing population of youth who are at

9 risk of leaving or who have left the educational

10 mainstream are an enormous drain on the resources

11 of Federal, State, and local governments and the

12 private sector;

13 (4) truancy is the first indicator that a young

14 person is giving up and losing his or her way;

15 (5) students who become truant and eventually

16 drop out of school put themselves at a long-term dis17 advantage in becoming productive citizens;

18 (6) high school drop-outs are two and one-half

19 times more likely to be on welfare than high school

20 graduates;

21 (7) high school drop-outs are almost twice as

22 likely to be unemployed as high school graduates;

23 (8) in 1993, 17 percent of youth under age 18

24 who entered adult prisons had not completed grade

25 school, one-fourth of such youth had completed 10th
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1 grade, and 2 percent of such youth had a high

2 school diploma or its recognized equivalent;

3 (9) truancy contributes to increased use of the

4 foster care and court systems;

5 (10) truancy is a gateway to crime, and high

6 rates of truancy are linked to high daytime burglary

7 rates and high vandalism rates;

8 (11) communities that have instituted truancy

9 prevention programs have seen daytime burglary

10 rates decline by as much as 75 percent; and

11 (12) truancy prevention and reduction pro12 grams result in significant increases in school at13 tendance.

14 SEC. 3. GOALS.

15 The goals of this Act are to prevent and reduce tru16 ancy.

17 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

18 In this Act:

19 (1) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; SECONDARY

20 SCHOOL.—The terms ‘‘elementary school’’ and ‘‘sec21 ondary school’’ have the meanings given the terms

22 in section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary

23 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).
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1 (2) PARENT.—The term ‘‘parent’’ means the

2 biological parent, adoptive parent, or legal guardian,

3 of a child.

4 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

5 the Secretary of Education.

6 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUANCY PREVENTION AND

7 CRIME CONTROL DEMONSTRATION

8 PROJECTS.

9 (a) DEMONSTRATIONS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary

10 shall make grants to partnerships consisting of an elemen11 tary school or secondary school, a local law enforcement

12 agency, and a social service and youth serving organiza13 tion, for the purpose of developing, implementing, or oper14 ating projects for the prevention or reduction of truancy.

15 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Grant funds under this section

16 may be used for programs that prevent or reduce truancy,

17 such as programs that use police officers or patrol officers

18 to pick up truant students, return the students to school,

19 or take the students to centers for assessment.

20 (c) APPLICATION AND SELECTION.—Each partner21 ship desiring a grant under this section shall submit an

22 application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner,

23 and accompanied by such information as the Secretary

24 may require. Each such application shall—
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1 (1) contain a description of the proposed tru2 ancy prevention or reduction project to be estab3 lished or improved with funds provided under this

4 Act;

5 (2) specify the methods to be used to involve

6 parents in truancy prevention or reduction activities;

7 (3) specify the types of sanctions that students

8 will face for engaging in truant behavior;

9 (4) specify the incentives that will be used for

10 parental responsibility;

11 (5) specify the types of initiatives, if any, that

12 schools will develop to combat the underlying causes

13 of truancy; and

14 (6) specify the linkages that will be made with

15 local law enforcement agencies.

16 (d) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall give

17 priority in awarding grants under this Act to partner18 ships—

19 (1) serving areas with concentrations of pov20 erty, including urban and rural areas; and

21 (2) that meet any other criteria that the Sec22 retary determines will contribute to the achievement

23 of the goals of this Act.

24 SEC. 6. EVALUATIONS AND REPORTS.

25 (a) PROJECT EVALUATIONS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each partnership receiving a

2 grant under this section shall—

3 (A) provide for the evaluation of the

4 project assisted under this Act, which evalua5 tion shall meet such conditions and standards

6 as the Secretary may require; and

7 (B) submit to the Secretary reports, at

8 such times, in such formats, and containing

9 such information, as the Secretary may require.

10 (2) REQUIRED INFORMATION.—A report sub11 mitted under subparagraph (1)(B) shall include in12 formation on and analysis of the effect of the project

13 with respect to—

14 (A) prevention of or reduction in truancy;

15 (B) increased school attendance; and

16 (C) reduction in juvenile crime.

17 (b) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary, on the

18 basis of the reports received under subsection (a), shall

19 submit interim reports, and, not later than March 1, 2002,

20 submit a final report, to Congress. Each report submitted

21 under this subsection shall contain an assessment of the

22 effectiveness of the projects assisted under this Act, and

23 any recommendations for legislative action that the Sec24 retary considers appropriate.
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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated to carry out this Act—

4 (1) $80,000,000 for fiscal year 1998; and

5 (2) such sums as may be necessary for each of

6 the fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001.

7 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated under sub8 section (a) shall remain available until expended.

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