HF 461 (LSB 2849YH (2) 91)

HOUSE FILE 461

BY  LAWLER

A BILL FOR

An Act modifying provisions related to notices that school officials are required to send when a child becomes chronically absent.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 299.12, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code 2025, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  When a child becomes chronically absent, a school official shall send a notice by ordinary mail or electronic mail to the county attorney of the county in which the public school’s central administrative office is located, and a notice by certified ordinary mail to the child’s parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian of the child, if the child is not an emancipated minor, or to the child, if the child is an emancipated minor, that includes information related to the child’s absences from school and the policies and disciplinary processes associated with additional absences. 
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill modifies provisions related to notices that school officials are required to send when a child becomes chronically absent.
   Current law provides that when a child becomes chronically absent under Code section 299.12 (failure to attend), a school official is required to send a notice by certified mail to the child’s parent, guardian, or legal or actual custodian, if the child is not an emancipated minor, or to the child, if the child is an emancipated minor, that includes information related to the child’s absences from school and the policies and disciplinary processes associated with additional absences. The bill modifies this provision to provide that the notice is required to be sent by ordinary mail.