2021 Georgia Code
Title 20 - Education
Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education
Article 16 - Students
Part 1 - School Attendance
Subpart 2 - Compulsory Attendance
§ 20-2-701. Responsibility for Reporting Truants to Juvenile or Other Courts

Local school superintendents as applied to private schools, the Department of Education as applied to home study programs, or visiting teachers and attendance officers as applied to public schools, after written notice to the parent or guardian of a child, shall report to the juvenile or other court having jurisdiction under Chapter 11 of Title 15 any child who is absent from a public or private school or a home study program in violation of this subpart. If the judge of the court places such child in a home or in a public or private institution pursuant to Chapter 11 of Title 15, school shall be provided for such child. The Department of Education shall coordinate with local school superintendents with respect to attendance records and notification for students in home study programs.

(Ga. L. 1945, p. 343, § 11; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1266, § 7; Ga. L. 2004, p. 107, § 11B; Ga. L. 2005, p. 334, § 9-2/HB 501; Ga. L. 2012, p. 358, § 33/HB 706; Ga. L. 2012, p. 648, § 5/HB 39; Ga. L. 2015, p. 60, § 3-5/SB 100.)

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, substituted the present provisions of this Code section for the former provisions, which read: "(a) Local school superintendents as applied to private schools, the Department of Education as applied to home study programs, or visiting teachers and attendance officers as applied to public schools, after written notice to the parent or guardian of a child, shall report to the juvenile or other court having jurisdiction under Chapter 11 of Title 15 any child who is absent from a public or private school or a home study program in violation of this subpart. If the judge of the court places such child in a home or in a public or private institution pursuant to Chapter 11 of Title 15, school shall be provided for such child. The Department of Education shall coordinate with local school superintendents with respect to attendance records and notification for students in home study programs.

"(b) Local school superintendents or visiting teachers and attendance officers shall use their best efforts to notify any child 14 years of age or older who has only three absences remaining prior to violating the attendance requirements contained in subsection (a.1) of Code Section 40-5-22. Such notification shall be made via first-class mail.

"(c) Local school superintendents or visiting teachers and attendance officers shall report to the State Board of Education, which shall, in turn, report to the Department of Driver Services any child 14 years of age or older who does not meet the attendance requirements contained in subsection (a.1) of Code Section 40-5-22. Such report shall include the child's name, current address, and social security number, if known.

"(d) Subsections (b) and (c) of this Code section shall not be effective until full implementation of the state-wide education information system." See Editor's note for applicability.

- School attendance requirements for licensing, § 40-5-22.

- Ga. L. 2004, p. 107, § 11B, provided that new subsections (b) and (c) became effective upon full implementation of the state-wide education information system. Ga. L. 2005, p. 334, § 9-2(b), provided that new subsection (c) became effective upon full implementation of the state-wide education information system, as provided in Ga. L. 2004, p. 107, § 11B. The state-wide education information system was fully implemented in 2008.

Ga. L. 2012, p. 648, § 6/HB 39, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment by that Act shall apply beginning with school year 2012-2013.

Ga. L. 2015, p. 60, § 6-1/SB 100, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that this Act shall apply to offenses which occur on or after July 1, 2015.

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Children absent illegally from school.

- This section provides that should any child absent himself or herself from school in violation of the law, the visiting teacher and attendance officer shall give written notice of the child's absence from school to the parent or guardian, and if the delinquency of the child is not corrected, the teacher and attendance officer should report the situation to the juvenile, superior, city, or other court having jurisdiction of the child. 1952-53 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 77.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 78A C.J.S., Schools and School Districts, § 1029.

- Regulations forbidding pupils to leave school grounds during school hours, 32 A.L.R. 1342; 48 A.L.R. 659.