kids on school-attendance probation get a ride plan

The text as introduced · 314 words

89R5521 CJD-D

By: Hughes
S.B. No. 804

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to transportation to school for a child required to attend

school as a condition of probation.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 54.043, Family Code, is amended to read

as follows:

Sec. 54.043. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AS A CONDITION OF PROBATION;

MONITORING SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. (a) If the court places a child on

probation under Section 54.04(d) and requires as a condition of

probation that the child attend school :

(1) the court shall:

(A) consult with:

(i) the child's parents;

(ii) school officials from the school the

child attends; and

(iii) the probation officer charged with

supervising the child; and

(B) specify in the order placing the child on

probation a plan to ensure that the child is not absent from school

due to lack of transportation; and

(2) [ , ] the probation officer charged with supervising

the child shall monitor the child's school attendance and report to

the court if the child is voluntarily absent from school.

(b) For the purposes of determining whether a child is

voluntarily absent from school under Subsection (a)(2), the

probation officer shall consider whether transportation was

reasonably available to the child on the date the absence occurred.

SECTION 2. (a) Section 54.043(a), Family Code, as added by

this Act, applies to a probation order issued on or after the

effective date of this Act, regardless of whether the conduct for

which the child was placed on probation was committed before, on, or

after the effective date of this Act.

(b) Section 54.043(b), Family Code, as added by this Act,

applies to a child placed on probation regardless of whether the

child was placed on probation before, on, or after the effective

date of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.