Local Education Agencies - As enacted, requires a director of schools to refer to juvenile court certain students who were formerly enrolled in the LEA, who were receiving certain truancy interventions, who withdrew from, the official text

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                              PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 844

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 1968

                                                              By Lowe

                                           Substituted for: House Bill No. 1823

                                             By Raper, White, Cepicky, Haston

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 37, Chapter 1, Part 1; Title 49, Chapter 1; Title
          49, Chapter 2 and Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to attendance.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

          SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3001 (c)(1 )(B)(i), is amended by
adding "attendance," before "academic," wherever it appears.

          SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3009, is amended by adding the
following as new subsections:

                    (o)(1) If a student withdraws from an LEA, as defined in § 49-1-103, in which the
                    student was receiving tier three interventions pursuant to the LEA's progressive
                    truancy plan, and the student does not transfer to another LEA, as defined in § 49-1-
                    103, then the director of schools shall report the student's absences to the judge with
                    juvenile jurisdiction in the county in which the student resides.

                              (2) Each case must be dealt with in such manner as the judge may determine
                    to be in the best interest of the student, consistent with §§ 37-1-132, 37-1-168, and
                    37-1-169. In the event a student in kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) is
                    adjudicated to be unruly because the student has accumulated five (5) days or more
                    of unexcused absences during any school year, the judge may assess a fine of up to
                    fifty dollars ($50.00) or community service, in the discretion of the judge, against the
                    parent or legal guardian of the student.

                              (3) A referral to juvenile court for conduct described in this subsection (o) must
                    be accompanied by a statement from the director of schools certifying that:

                                        (A) The school applied the progressive truancy interventions of the
                              progressive truancy plan adopted under subsection (d) for the student while
                              the student was enrolled in the LEA; and

                                        (B) The student withdrew from the LEA and has not enrolled in another
                              LEA.

          SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3009(i), is amended by adding "or
subsection (o), if applicable" after "with subsection (h)".

          SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3009(9), is amended by deleting
"five (5) hours of'.

          SECTION 5. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3007, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:

                    (i)(1) The attendance records for a student who transfers or withdraws from an LEA or
                    public school, including a public charter school, after the school year has commenced
                    must be maintained by the LEA or public school from which the student transferred or
                    withdrew for the remainder of the school year.
SB 1968
                             (2) An LEA or public school that enrolls a student after the school year has

                   commenced shall determine during the enrollment process whether the student was
                   previously enrolled in another LEA or public school at any time during that same
                   school year. If the LEA or public school determines that the student was previously
                   enrolled in another LEA or public school in the same school year for which the
                   student seeks to enroll in the LEA or public school, then the enrolling LEA or public
                   school shall request the student's attendance records from each LEA or public school
                   at which the student was previously enrolled during that same school year. A former
                    LEA or public school that receives a request from another LEA or public school for a
                   student's attendance records pursuant to this subdivision (i)(2) shall provide the
                   attendance records for the respective school year to the requesting LEA or public
                   school within five (5) business days of the date on which the request was received.

                             (3) An LEA or public school that enrolls, after the school year has
                    commenced, a student who was previously enrolled in another LEA or public school
                    at any time during that same school year shall include the number of any unexcused
                    absences accumulated by the student at the student's former LEA or public school in
                    the same school year in the number of unexcused absences for the student at the
                   enrolling LEA or public school and shall implement the appropriate tier of the enrolling
                    LEA's progressive truancy plan, if applicable.
          SECTION 6. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.

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         SENATE BILL NO. 1968

PASSED:  April 15, 2026

                                                      RANDY McNALLY
                                             'EAKER OF THE SENATE

                         CAMERO XTON, SPEAKER
                         HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APPROVED this 2]1:t day of f.¼>t\ I          2026

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                         BILL LEE, GOVERNOR