AUSTIN (KXAN) – Three Texas lawmakers are looking for ways the state can better collect data on truancy cases, following a KXAN investigation that discovered no state agency has tracked outcomes for tens of thousands of students referred to court for missing too much class in the past decade.
Since 2016 – the year after lawmakers reformed the truancy system and made it a civil issue rather than criminal – more than 86,000 students have had to face a judge over truant conduct, according to data from Texas’ Office of Court Administration.
Court orders in truancy cases can have a major impact on a student’s life. For example, students can be ordered to get their G.E.D., which would require them to withdraw from school. Nobody knows how often that’s happening because the state doesn’t keep track.
The Texas Education Agency previously told KXAN it doesn’t have the authority to require courts to provide that information.
The OCA data that is available shows school districts are relying more and more on courts to handle their truancy issues. Statewide, the number of truant conduct cases escalated each year since the pandemic, with more than 12,000 cases in fiscal year 2024.
Lawmakers concerned
Beyond those basic numbers, KXAN found it isn’t clear how cases are being handled in hundreds of municipal and justice of the peace courts across the state.
Democratic state senators Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and Royce West of Dallas, along with Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat out of Round Rock, told KXAN there is a need for better data on truancy.
“Truancy remains a critical challenge in Texas, largely because inconsistent tracking precludes identifying root causes, intervening early and providing families the support they need,” Zaffirini said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Texas Senate to identify better and more effective methods for uniform truancy tracking.”
Talarico, a former public school teacher, said budget cuts have limited districts’ truancy prevention efforts.
“This reporting features some of the incredible work being done by Texans to address the root causes of truancy,” Talarico said in a statement. “However, it becomes clear that state lawmakers need to do more to understand the results of these cases and, most importantly, fully fund our neighborhood schools.”
Class to Court
To explore the impact of truancy, KXAN interviewed multiple education experts, attorneys, local judges and followed the case of Nathaniel Karle, a former student at Georgetown High School.
Due to family problems outside his control, Karle felt unsafe at school and missed dozens of days. In April, when a Williamson County constable knocked on his door to serve him papers, Nathaniel learned he was being sent to court for truancy.
Nathaniel, 17 at the time, said he was “so scared” and feared he was “going to jail” that day. A Williamson County justice of the peace court judge gave him and his mother Rosa Yharte two options: homeschool or G.E.D. Nathaniel opted for a homeschool program, which meant he had to disenroll from GISD, where he took special education courses.
Cases like that happen thousands of times per year in Texas. Education experts said it’s critical to track outcomes to know if the system is helping or harming students.
Explore the number of cases filed over the past eight years in each county and city municipal court here. Data provided by the Office of Court Administration.
To illustrate what can go wrong, experts pointed to problems found in Corpus Christi.
Truancy trouble
In February, four advocacy groups filed a complaint with TEA alleging Corpus Christi ISD violated students’ rights through its overuse of truant conduct referrals.
The advocacy groups – Disability Rights Texas, Texas Appleseed, Texas Civil Rights Project and the National Center for Youth Law – found CCISD referred students to truancy court at a much higher rate than nearby districts. The groups alleged the district discriminated against students with disabilities by removing them from classroom instruction, which “violated their right to a free and appropriate public education,” according to a February news release.
TEA investigated and confirmed the allegations. CCISD told KXAN it has reformed its truancy process and made a checklist for preventative measures it uses before sending a student to court, among other efforts.
“CCISD faces similar challenges that other districts face throughout the state,” CCISD said in a statement to KXAN. “These challenges include a highly mobile student population, high chronic absenteeism, and barriers to attendance faced by our students which may include transportation, housing, financial, and medical and mental health issues.”
Nueces County, where CCISD is located, had one of the highest counts of truant conduct cases in the state.