COMPULSORY EDUCATION Laws on compulsory attendance are found in all States. The ages at which pupils must attend and the number of days necessary to attend each year differ by States. Enforcement of compulsory attendance laws varies greatly by States due partly to differing interests in education and partly to differences in the laws and regulations governing enforcement. Exemptions from attendance are universal. The States do not as yet accept the full responsibility of seeing that all children go to school at a certain age. Exemptions at certain ages, for example, due to the need for working, are found in practically all States. However, it may also be said, that after the differences have been pointed out, laws and regulations concerning compulsory school attendance show a definite common pattern. The ages most common for compulsory attendance are 7-16 (24 States). The other principal variations in compulsory attendance age range are 8-16 (9 States), and 8-18 (3 States). For ages 14-16 or 14-18 there are, except for 4 States, regulations covering both school attendance and employment. Exemptions from compulsory attendance apart from the need for employment are most commonly based on (a) physical and mental disability, (b) distance from school, and (c) attendance at private school and private instruction. APPOINTMENT OF ATTENDANCE OFFICERS (a) State level.-State departments having some specified responsibility regarding the appointment of attendance officers are Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Usually such authority has to do with appointment in the local situation when the local school districts fail to appoint adequate and qualified personnel for attendance work or with the appointment of State personnel for special purposes or for special districts. (b) County board of education. The law requires that attendance officers be appointed by the county board of education in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee (except in counties with a small population), and West Virginia. States in which the law provides that county boards of education may appoint attendance officers are: Indiana, Louisiana (parishes), North Carolina, Texas (in large counties and independent school districts), and Virginia. In California the county school boards and city school boards may jointly appoint attendance officers. (c) County superintendent of schools.--The law requires that county superintendents appoint attendance officers in Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri (in large counties), Nebraska, and Oregon. The county superintendent may appoint attendance officers in Oklahoma. In the following States the county superintendent is required to serve as attendance officer for the county: Florida (when no attendance assistant has been appointed), Indiana (when no attendance officer has been appointed), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming. (d) School districts.-In Arizona (in districts having 2,000 or more children of legal school age), Colorado (in cities of the first and second class), Georgia (in districts with "municipal boards of education"), Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana (in first- and second-class districts), Nebraska (in cities of the first class), New Hampshire, New Jersey (except when specifically exempt by the county superintendent of schools), New York, Ohio, Oklahoma (in cities and incorporated towns), Oregon (in districts of the first class), Pennsylvania (in first-, second-, and third-class districts), Rhode Island, South Dakota (in independent school districts), Tennessee (in cities with separate school systems and having school populations of 500), Vermont, Washington (in city districts), and Wisconsin, the appointment of attendance officers by school districts is required. Appointment is made permissive by school districts in the following States: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana (in independent districts), Iowa (in school districts having 20,000 population), Kansas (in cities of first and second class), Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina (in cities and counties), North Dakota (in school districts having a population of over 500), Oklahoma (in cities and towns), Oregon (in cities of the second class), Pennsylvania (in fourth class districts if authorized by State department of education), Texas, Utah, and Wyoming (in school districts with a population of 2,500 or over). QUALIFICATIONS OF ATTENDANCE OFFICERS There is practically no uniformity in the qualifications set up by legislatures for attendance officers. Most States either do not have any specified qualifications, such as is the case in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming, or it is left to the State department of education to set up the qualifications as in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Laws in the other States present various methods for qualifying attendance officers, for example: California-Certification by State and county boards of education. Idaho A discreet person of good moral character. Illinois-Of good attainment, versed in the principles and methods of education, familiar with public-school work, and competent to visit schools. Michigan-A person of good moral character and a bond of $1,000. New York-Attendance officers must be 21 years of age; have completed high school; and pass written, oral, and physical examinations. Oregon-Candidate must have valid certificate to teach and submit evidence to show knowledge of social problems, laws governing school attendance and child labor, and ability to keep records. South Carolina B.A. degree and a certificate of first grade. Tennessee-Attendance officers must have good moral character and be able to read and write with ease. West Virginia—Authorizes county boards of education to set up such special professional qualifications as they may deem expedient and proper. Wisconsin-Attendance officers in first-class cities must possess the legal qualifications of teachers in such cities. DUTIES OF THE ATTENDANCE OFFICERS Attendance officers by law and by definition have had to do with the enforcement of the attendance laws. This enforcement usually carries police power, that is, the power to pick up children, prepare cases for court, and to prosecute or help prosecute cases in court. Sometimes the prosecution is left for the county attorney or some other official. Attendance officers are also frequently given the power of entering factories or other places of employment to see if children working have employment certificates. Because of the growth in our understanding of the causes of truancy, attendance officers in some States have become school and home adjustment counselors or workers. That is, attendance officers in some States and places have, in addition to their police duties mentioned, the duty to investigate the causes of absence of individual truants and attempt remedial action. This new duty is a part of the total pupil adjustment work of a school system and should be closely integrated with the work in the. schools. Many school systems have created new positions for doing home and school adjustment work which may or may not cover the legal phases of school attendance work. The duties of such positions. will always include, however, the cooperation with persons having legal authority in the compulsory school attendance area. It would be a gain for the schools if all school attendance officers could qualify as home and school adjustment workers. This trend in the professionalization of attendance workers requires a change in attitude of many school people. FORMS, RECORDS, AND REPORTS NEEDED A number of prescribed forms are needed in the administration of compulsory attendance laws. They include those for giving official notices of violations, for recording essential information, and for reporting action on cases and services rendered. A considerable number of States prescribe all or most of the forms used, some also provide them. Items which a State department of education may prescribe for forms used in attendance, together with the interpretations and requirements made relative to them, may aid greatly in securing effective services in the school districts for improvement of attendance. . The prescription of forms by a State department of education in accordance with provisions in the law is an important means for securing uniformity of practices throughout the State, which is desirable for realizing the purpose of the attendance law. Experience is showing the value of a teacher's register, prescribed by the State department, for recording and reporting accurate, adequate, and uniform information on attendance and related information. From such a school register, comparable data for child accounting can be made readily available to a State department on a State basis. State departments of education need reports not only on the census, enrollments, and average daily attendance, but also on the work of enforcement. Even though some State departments have no specific authorization for control over attendance, most State departments have sufficient powers through general authorizations—if they care to exercise them to require information on attendance and to treat such information in a way to reveal conditions and build up a public opinion supporting effective enforcement. 670580 - 45 - 2 |