Bill > HB2236

This bill modifies Texas Education Code to address chronic student absenteeism by expanding the definition of "students at risk of dropping out of school" and introducing new data reporting requirements. Specifically, the bill defines a "chronically absent student" as one who is absent for more than 10 percent of school operation time within a school year or six-week grade reporting period. The legislation adds chronic absenteeism as a factor in identifying students at risk of dropping out and requires school districts and charter schools to report the total number of chronically absent students through the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS). The reporting must include a breakdown of chronic absenteeism by students' race, ethnicity, and various educational status categories such as special education enrollment, dyslexia identification, economic disadvantage, and emergent bilingual status. Furthermore, the Texas education agency must annually aggregate and publicly release this chronic absenteeism data at both campus and district levels, showing the percentage of chronically absent students in each demographic category. The bill is set to take effect on September 1, 2025, providing schools and districts time to prepare for the new reporting requirements.

Education

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB2236