Missouri's Supreme Court has upheld a state law that allows parents to be jailed if their children miss too much school and don't attend on a regular basis, defining that as being every day class is in session.
The case centered on the jailing of two single mothers in Lebanon, Missouri, who were arrested after their elementary-age children each missed around 15 days of class during the 2021-22 school year, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Even though the mothers called the school to explain some of the absences, Lebanon R-III School District officials referred them to prosecutors.
About 4,500 students attend school in the southwestern Missouri district, whose handbook says students should maintain a 90% attendance rate.
Attorneys for the mothers, however, said a state compulsory education law that requires attendance on a "regular basis" is unconstitutionally vague.
They also argued that the mothers were not told that illnesses were counted as unverified absences without a doctor's note, even when a parent calls the school.
"You all have had kids in school," said Ellen Flottman, an appellate public defender who argued for the mothers before the state Supreme Court. "Nobody thinks that they are going to be prosecuted for this."
However, the Missouri Attorney General's office said that minor offenses are still violations of state law and that the district followed up with the mothers when the absences increased.
Judge Robin Ransom, who wrote the court's decision, said that based on common understanding, "No Missouri parent would conclude attendance 'on a regular basis' means anything less than having their child go to school on those days the school is in session."
She further wrote that prosecutors and school officials have the discretion not to enforce truancy cases, but still, the court is "bound by its duty 'to ascertain the intent of the legislature from the language used and to consider the words used in their plain and ordinary meaning.'"
Five Supreme Court judges concurred with Ransom, while another judge did not participate in the ruling.
Madeline Sieren, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, commented that "we're pleased with the Court's decision, as it recognized the importance of education for Missouri's children."
School attendance rates, along with math and reading scores, have dropped sharply since the COVID pandemic, and education experts say chronic absenteeism disrupts learning for students and their peers alike when teachers have to revisit past lessons.
Robert Balfanz, a research professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Education, said absenteeism comes from several factors, including poverty and lack of resources.
Still, Maura McInerney, who has represented many families facing truancy charges through her work as legal director of the Education Law Center, said that when parents are punished, issues can arise between them and schools.
More than 40 states have truancy statutes under which students or parents can be penalized, with punishments including fines or jail time, taking away driver's licenses, or being referred to child welfare agencies.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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