New Mexico 2025 Regular Session

New Mexico House Bill HB432 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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28	28	HOUSE BILL 432
29	29	57
30	30	TH LEGISLATURE
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33	33	STATE
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35	35	OF
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38	38
39	39	MEXICO
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42	42	FIRST SESSION
43	43	,
44	44
45	45	2025
46	46	INTRODUCED BY
47	47	Luis M. Terrazas and Andrea Reeb and Cathrynn N. Brown
48	48	and Nicole Chavez and Jonathan A. Henry
49	49	AN ACT
50	50	RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; ENHANCING AND EXPANDING ENFORCEMENT
51	51	PROVISIONS TO REDUCE EXCESSIVE ABSENTEEISM; MAKING IT A CRIME
52	52	FOR A PARENT OF AN EXCESSIVELY ABSENT STUDENT TO ALLOW THAT
53	53	STUDENT TO CONTINUE BEING ABSENT FROM SCHOOL; PROVIDING
54	54	PENALTIES.
55	55	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
56	56	SECTION 1. Section 22-12A-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2019,
57	57	Chapter 223, Section 12) is amended to read:
58	58	"22-12A-12. EXCESSIVE ABSENTEEISM--ENFORCEMENT--CRIME FOR
59	59	PARENT TO ALLOW CONTINUED ABSENCES--PENALTIES .--
60	60	A. Each local school board and each governing body
61	61	of a charter school or private school shall initiate the
62	62	enforcement of the provisions of the Attendance for Success Act
63	63	for excessively absent students.
64	64	.229028.2 underscored material = new
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91	91	B. If [unexcused] absences continue after written
92	92	notice of excessive absenteeism as provided in Section [11 of
93	93	the Attendance for Success Act ] 22-12A-11 NMSA 1978 , the local
94	94	school board or governing body of a charter school or private
95	95	school, after consultation with the local superintendent or
96	96	head administrator of a charter school or private school, shall
97	97	report the excessively absent student to the juvenile probation
98	98	services office of the judicial district in which the student
99	99	resides for an investigation as to whether the student should
100	100	be considered to be a neglected child or a child in a family in
101	101	need of family services because of excessive absenteeism and,
102	102	thus, subject to the provisions of the Children's Code. The
103	103	record of the public school's interventions and the student's
104	104	and parent's responses to the interventions shall be provided
105	105	to the juvenile probation services office. The local
106	106	superintendent or head administrator of a charter school or
107	107	private school shall provide the documentation to the juvenile
108	108	probation services office within ten business days of the
109	109	student being identified as excessively absent. In addition to
110	110	any other disposition, the children's court may order that an
111	111	excessively absent student's driving privileges be suspended
112	112	for a specified time not to exceed ninety days on the first
113	113	finding of excessive absenteeism and not to exceed one year for
114	114	a subsequent finding of excessive absenteeism.
115	115	C. If the juvenile probation services office
116	116	.229028.2
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144	144	determines that the student is a child in a family in need of
145	145	family services, a caseworker from the child or family in need
146	146	of family services program shall meet with the family at the
147	147	public school in which the student is enrolled to determine if
148	148	there are other intervention services that may be provided.
149	149	The meeting shall involve the school principal or other school
150	150	personnel and, unless the parent objects in writing,
151	151	appropriate community partners that provide services to
152	152	children and families. The children, youth and families
153	153	department shall determine if additional interventions,
154	154	including monitoring, will positively affect the student's
155	155	behavior.
156	156	D. It is a violation of the Attendance for Success
157	157	Act for a parent of an excessively absent student to cause or
158	158	allow that student to continue to be absent from school. The
159	159	local school board or governing body of the charter school or
160	160	private school that the student attends shall, after
161	161	consultation with the local superintendent or head
162	162	administrator of the charter school or private school that the
163	163	excessively absent student attends, refer the parent of that
164	164	student to the local office of the district attorney for
165	165	prosecution if that student continues to be absent after having
166	166	been referred to the juvenile probation services office as
167	167	provided in Subsection B of this section.
168	168	E. If a parent who is referred to the local office
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197	197	of the district attorney for prosecution pursuant to Subsection
198	198	D of this section is found to have caused or allowed that
199	199	parent's excessively absent student to continue to be absent
200	200	from school, the parent is guilty of a petty misdemeanor. Upon
201	201	the first conviction, the parent shall be subject to a fine of
202	202	not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) or more than one hundred
203	203	dollars ($100), or the parent may be ordered to perform
204	204	community service. Upon a second or subsequent conviction, the
205	205	parent is guilty of a petty misdemeanor and subject to a fine
206	206	of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment
207	207	for a definite term not to exceed six months, or both. "
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209	209	.229028.2