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KXAN AustinFollow

12,000+ Texas kids sent to court for missing class, no one tracks what happens next

David Barer

Tue, November 26, 2024 at 1:00 PM UTC

21 min read

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Investigative Summary:

More than 86,000 Texas teens have been sent to court for missing school since lawmakers’ 2015 reforms made truancy a civil matter, rather than criminal. A KXAN investigation found cases are escalating every year, with more than 12,000 this year. Meanwhile, no state agency is tracking whether the students are being helped or harmed.

GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) – Nathaniel Karle’s brother answered a knock at the door on April 15, then called back into the house for Nathaniel to come to the porch. There was a uniformed officer there who needed to speak with him.

Body camera footage of the encounter shows 17-year-old Nathaniel stoically step outside to face the constable. Beneath the surface, Nathaniel was feeling the opposite, he later told KXAN in an interview.

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“I was so scared. I was like, ‘This is my day. I’m going to jail,’” Nathaniel said.

Fortunately, the constable was holding a clipboard, not handcuffs. Nathaniel soon learned he wasn’t going to jail. The constable was serving him papers and referring him to court for truant conduct – the legal term for missing too much school. He had over 20 absences that school year at Georgetown High School.

At that point, Georgetown Independent School District decided it had done its duty to help get Nathaniel to class. Now, the courts would handle him.

court paperwork being handed to boy and mom

What happened on Nathaniel’s porch that day in April is a scene that plays out thousands of times per year in Texas: kids served papers for truancy and sent before a judge to find a way forward with their education. This year, the number of students sent to court exceeded 12,000 – a near-record high. In one Central Texas county, truancy cases doubled in a year. KXAN also obtained records showing students who are homeless and others in special education programs were referred to court for absences, which experts say is potentially troubling.

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At the rate Texas is going, next year the state will have the most truant conduct cases since 2015 – the year lawmakers dismantled the old criminal-penalty-based system. Back then, state leaders recognized the damage caused by charging students with a misdemeanor for school absences. There was significant media coverage and ample studies at the time. With a deep understanding of the problem, legislators flipped truancy to make it a civil matter, rather than criminal.

Now, nearly a decade into Texas’ reformed civil truancy system, the impact on teens like Nathaniel isn’t so clear.

A KXAN investigation found no state agency is tracking how courts are handling cases, or the outcomes of judges’ orders – which can range from relatively basic to life-changing for a youth.

No tracking

Data collected by the state’s Office of Court Administration show the numbers of students and parents sent to court for truant conduct. The data also show which counties and cities the cases are handled in. Beyond that, it’s murky.

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KXAN filed more than 200 records requests with Central Texas justice of the peace courts, municipal courts and school districts to get an understanding of how students are impacted by this system. We asked for the number of cases they’ve received, and the types of orders judges have given students – for example, if they were ordered to get a G.E.D.

The information we received back was spotty. Some courts and districts provided detailed records. Many provided only basic information. Some courts flat-out declined.

This chart shows statewide totals by year for truant conduct and parent contributing to nonattendance cases since 2016 that were handled in justice of the peace courts and municipal courts. Source: Texas Office of Court Administration (KXAN Interactive/David Barer)

The Texas Education Agency, which oversees public schools in the state, confirmed it does not collect information on the orders judges are giving or how the cases are turning out.

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“TEA does not have authority to require courts to provide data on the handling of truant conduct cases and therefore cannot collect the data from the courts,” an agency spokesperson told KXAN, adding that it has no knowledge of any other agency tracking that information.

With little overarching evidence of what is and isn’t working in truancy court, education experts and policy advocates told KXAN they are concerned.

“The fact that we don’t know, at least globally through the data, it should be very concerning because how can we make smart, informed policy decisions about whether these interventions are working?” said Paige Duggins-Clay, an attorney and legal analyst with the Intercultural Development Research Association.

Underlying problems

Following Nathaniel’s case offers a glimpse into the truancy enforcement system — where juvenile records are kept confidential by law. Judges and experts told KXAN they often find absences are caused by underlying problems at home, within families or with a student’s mental or physical health.

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Nathaniel said his absences trace back to family issues. His dad was charged with a sex crime against a child. While police investigated the case – before his dad was arrested – Nathaniel feared his father would try to pick him up at school. So, he stayed home. That’s when most of his absences piled up.

“You know, their dad could have shown up at the school any given time,” said Nathaniel’s mom, Rosa Yharte. Nathaniel was “very afraid to go to school,” she added.

Nathaniel’s father is currently in jail awaiting trial on two charges of indecency with a child sexual contact, a second-degree felony.

Hays CISD can remove students from school after 5 straight absences without notice

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Most truant conduct cases are handled in justice of the peace court; a smaller percentage are sent to municipal courts. In tandem with their kids, parents are often charged with a misdemeanor for contributing to nonattendance. Statewide, over 18,000 parent contributing cases were filed in 2024, OCA data shows.

Nathaniel’s case went to Williamson County’s Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace. Rosa said they were given two options: Nathaniel could finish high school through a G.E.D. or enroll in a homeschool program. A G.E.D. is the commonly used acronym for a General Education Development credential, an equivalent to a high school diploma that can be earned after passing four tests.

boy stands in front of court

Rosa knew Nathaniel – who was in a special education program – wouldn’t handle the G.E.D. route well since it lacked the services he had access to at his previous high school, she said. She ultimately enrolled him in a nearby charter school.

Nathaniel’s case was one of more than nearly 4,000 truant conduct cases filed in Williamson County justice of the peace courts since 2016.

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In recent years, there’s been a sharp increase in that county, mostly coming from Hutto ISD in eastern Williamson County, according to court records.

‘Driving the docket’

Truancy cases in Judge Rhonda Redden’s courtroom in Williamson County Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 ballooned by nearly a thousand percent – from 38 in 2022 to 408 in 2023, according to data her court provided.

“You have to understand, JPs don’t drive the docket,” Redden told KXAN. “The docket gets driven by the schools and then it has to go through the county attorney before we actually get it on our desk.”

The cases hitting her desk primarily come from the larger school districts in her area: Hutto, Jarrell and Taylor, she said. Of those, Hutto ISD has filed the most, according to her office.

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Redden said the cases coming into her court escalated when districts saw how she was using remedial orders. As Redden put it, the school districts wanted a “problem solver.”

two women speak

“There was also a big push with a couple of the different school districts that wanted to get their truancy under control,” Redden said. “Once they figured out that I was going to actually do something with remedial orders, I was going to follow up on them and I was going to take them through to the end of the remedial order, they started really filing.”

When KXAN asked Hutto ISD for data on its truant conduct cases, the district said it couldn’t determine from its records how many cases were against students and how many were against parents.

Hutto ISD declined KXAN’s interview request. In a statement, the district said it “does not employ dedicated truancy officers” and instead uses its police department and staff from the Parent and Family Engagement Office to improve attendance with “home visits and other family support measures.”

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Eliska Padilla, a spokesperson for Hutto ISD, said the district’s truancy process has “undergone significant adjustments” this school year, resulting in just a single truancy filing being made so far.

“All truancy filings are preceded by comprehensive prevention measures to ensure that families receive the support and resources needed to improve attendance,” Padilla said.

Without saying which district they came from, Redden acknowledged she has seen cases that she had to dismiss because she was legally required to.

“I’ve got kids that are homeless,” Redden said. “I’ve got kids that have, you know, they’re in foster systems and all kinds of stuff … I can’t even hear those cases.”

According to TEA guidance, if a school determines a student’s absences “are the result of pregnancy, being in the state foster program, homelessness, or being the principal income earner for the student’s family, the district shall offer additional counseling to the student and may not refer the student to a truancy court.”

Redden wouldn’t speculate on what the districts could do better to control truancy. That’s “not where I work,” she said, adding that she has firm confidence the districts are doing everything they can before referring cases to her court.

Schools are “overloaded, just trying to get kids to do what they need to do,” she said.

Redden spoke to KXAN from her courtroom, but she could only speak generally because juvenile cases are confidential by law.

With little access to individual student information, KXAN sat and watched multiple cases in Travis and Burnet County courts to get a better sense of the process and circumstances of students.

KXAN in court

KXAN watched two court sessions on Oct. 16 in Marble Falls Municipal Court, where Judge Cheryl Pounds handled a half dozen truant conduct cases. Each high school teen was accompanied by at least one parent. Some of the parents faced misdemeanor charges for contributing to truancy.

None of the students or parents had a lawyer. There were no spectators other than KXAN, and Marble Falls ISD had no representative at the hearings. An armed officer stood guard at the front of the court during the proceedings.

At the outset, the parents and kids silently watched a video recording of Pounds explaining the court process and their rights. Anything the child said could be used against them, Pounds said in the video, and the child had a right to a jury trial and the right to cross-examine witnesses.

Each family was called to sit in front of the judge and explain their issues. They then received remedial orders. One high school junior was struggling with attendance because she feared her dad and thought he might show up to her school. Her mother also had a medical condition that would soon require heart surgery, so life was not easy at home.

In another case, a boy’s migraines were so severe he missed multiple days and didn’t have a doctor’s excuse. His parents explained they had medical documentation about his condition from a neurologist.

Catalyst – The Hanging on Backbone Creek

Pounds ordered both students to attend six hours of tutorial per week to get back on track, and the girl was told to have a parent meeting with a school official. None of the students or families were assessed fees. In each case emerged details of an underlying cause for truancy – something more than mere defiance.

Marble Falls ISD told KXAN it makes “every effort” to make sure it has a representative at truancy court. The lack of representation at the Oct. 16 hearing KXAN watched was an “isolated incident,” and a district representative was present at all other hearings this year, according to a district spokesperson.

After court, Pounds told KXAN her top goal is to get kids to graduate. Truancy court is “dear to my heart,” she said.

Cord Woerner, the Marble Falls Municipal Court juvenile case manager, told KXAN the court uses myriad tools — from ordering tutorials, to mental health evaluations, to communicating with school officials — to handle each student’s particular case.

“Every case is unique and has its own circumstances to deal with,” Woerner told KXAN in an email. “Our ultimate goal in dealing with and enforcing the state truancy laws are determine what the root causes are, assist the family with the resources they need to help them remedy the situation, ensure that the student is working to complete make up hours or credits that they will need for their education and ultimately receive their diploma.”

Marble Falls Municipal Court has seen a relatively steady stream of cases since 2015, totaling over 500, according to OCA data.

Scattered court data

KXAN attempted to get data in Central Texas showing how often remedial orders, like the ones Pounds issued, are used.

In response, courts often could not, or chose not to, provide that information.

For example, Williamson County Precinct 2 justice court provided basic numbers of truancy cases filed, but no specifics on the types of remedial orders used. Information from the county’s Precinct 3 justice court showed the number of G.E.D. orders since 2017 — a total of 44.

Travis County’s five justice of the peace courts, which have had the most cases of truant conduct and parent contributing of any county in Central Texas since 2015, provided no information to KXAN. Jointly, the courts said they have discretion over whether to release the information and chose not to, according to a letter from the Travis County Attorney’s Office.

We do know cases are going up. Since 2016, over 86,000 kids have been sent to court for truant conduct. The number peaked in 2019, at just over 12,800. When the pandemic hit in 2020, filings slumped but immediately started climbing again.  This year, truant conduct cases topped 12,000, and they are on pace to set a record next year, according to the Office of Court Administration’s fiscal year data.

KXAN mapped the total number of truant conduct cases in county justice of the peace courts and city municipal courts from 2016 to 2024. The shaded counties show the total cases for all justice courts in that county, and the dots represent the overall number of cases in each city’s court. Source: Texas Office of Court Administration (KXAN Interactive/David Barer)

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, said he was alarmed by the growth in cases and lack of information.

“When you begin to look at the number of cases that have been filed, we have a systemic problem that we have not addressed,” West told KXAN. “We can’t just keep throwing money at the problem. We need to redouble our efforts and figure out systemically what’s the best approach to this.”

“Wrap-around” services from school districts that should be helping could be caught up in budget deficits, he said.

“We are not doing something right as a state, as a county, as a city, as a school district,” West said.

Though statewide data is lacking, advocacy organizations have identified problems with the civil truancy system in specific districts.

‘Overuse of truancy’

In February, four advocacy organizations – Disability Rights Texas, Texas Appleseed, Texas Civil Rights Project and the National Center for Youth Law – filed a Texas Education Agency complaint against Corpus Christi ISD on the South Texas coast, accusing the district of violating students’ rights.

“Through its overuse of truancy court referrals, CCISD discriminates against students with disabilities and ultimately removes them from classroom instruction, violating their right to a free and appropriate public education,” according to a February news release.

Corpus Christi ISD engaged in truancy referrals at a far higher rate than nearby districts – sending 3% of its students to truancy court. Thirteen percent of those students had special education needs, the complaint alleged.

A TEA investigation later confirmed the allegations against CCISD, finding the district violated its federal obligation to identify and evaluate students with disabilities it referred to truancy court in 2023 and early 2024, according to Disability Rights.

In response to the complaint and TEA findings, CCISD told KXAN it revised its truancy procedures and added a checklist with preventative measures to help students prior to taking the matter to court. The steps also require a meeting if those measures aren’t successful, according to a district spokesperson.

“CCISD faces similar challenges that other districts face throughout the state,” CCISD said in a statement to KXAN. “These challenges include a highly mobile student population, high chronic absenteeism, and barriers to attendance faced by our students which may include transportation, housing, financial, and medical and mental health issues.”

Olivia Lee, an attorney with Disability Rights Texas, said she’s seeing an increase in the number of students with special needs across the state being sent to court.

“It’s coming up more and more frequently lately, which is concerning,” Lee said. “I feel like schools don’t really know what to do with it when it comes to students with disabilities. They treat it as a general education issue.”

Nearly every expert, judge and lawmaker KXAN spoke with, including Lee, agreed on one thing: schools are strapped for resources and that plays a role in their ability to tackle truancy before it goes to court.

Underfunded

“There need to be so many resources available on the front end that, you know, these young people don’t even have to think about going with a justice court appearance,” Duggins-Clay said. “We’re seeing, unfortunately, our students and our families being scapegoated for the failures of policy, right? Because we haven’t invested in schools.”

Texas school’s handling of bullying case highlights Title IX challenges

Heather Stoner, executive director for campus and student services with Georgetown ISD, said the district’s goal is not to send kids to truancy court.

“Truancy court is pretty much the last resort for us,” she said. The district wants to work with parents to find the root cause of absenteeism and provide support.

A big hurdle, Stoner said, is resources and funding. District and campus administrators have full plates, and the list of needs is growing.

“For (the district) to be able to dedicate the amount of time that it takes to have individualized conversations with families about, specifically, attendance, it would be fantastic if there were additional resources to help fund positions that could be a liaison,” Stoner said.

Scattered district data

To get a better idea of the cases coming from schools, KXAN requested data from every Central Texas school district showing the total number of students they referred to truancy court – including demographic and racial information, and whether the student was homeless or pregnant at the time. KXAN also requested the number of times districts recommended students be ordered to get their G.E.D.

The responses from school districts were scattershot. Some provided the information we asked for. Some did not. The results did show instances of vulnerable students and their parents being referred to court.

For example, Marble Falls ISD records show the district filed truancy cases on 10 homeless students or their parents, including two who were in a special education program, according to district data.

Marble Falls ISD told KXAN it “takes the matter of student truancy seriously and evaluates each case on an individual basis, with a focus on understanding and addressing the underlying causes of absenteeism,” according to spokesperson Megan Hamilton.

Regarding students classified as homeless, Hamilton said the district assesses the cause of their missed school days. If the review finds the student’s lack of attendance isn’t related to their status as homeless, “we may proceed with a court filing when it is deemed in the best interest of the student,” Hamilton said in an email.

“If our review determines that the student’s lack of attendance is unrelated to their McKinney- Vento status, we may proceed with a court filing when it is deemed in the best interest of the student,” Hamilton said in an email.

Hamilton also said sending students to truancy court can “serve as a pathway to additional resources,” like court-ordered mental health services or counseling.

For kids in special education, there is a “long list” of interventions school districts can use before referring them to court, said Lee with Disability Rights Texas.

Interventions can include functional behavior assessments, trying a shortened school day to get them back in the classroom, creating an individualized education program, commonly called an IEP, or providing counseling, Lee said, to name a few.

How often – and how vigorously – schools use truancy interventions isn’t clear. District records for students are kept private under federal law.

Hutto ISD provided data showing several students or parents of homeless students and kids in special education were sent to truancy court. All of them were on truancy prevention measures, but the data doesn’t specify what those measures were.

Nathaniel provided his court records to KXAN. They include his “student attendance support plan” created by Georgetown ISD. In the section listing causes for Nathaniel’s absences, the plan doesn’t note issues the family told KXAN about – like his fear his dad could show up. In a section for explaining the root causes of Nathaniel’s absences, the only boxes checked are for “school reluctance/refusal,” “medical problems” attributed to “COVID, etc.” and “transportation issues.” District officials left blank a line where they could explain other safety issues. The district notes it attempted to call and email a “parent” but didn’t reach anyone or get a response.

See Nathaniel’s attendance support plan here.

Judge Evelyn McLean oversees Williamson County’s third precinct justice court. She wouldn’t discuss Nathaniel’s case because of confidentiality laws, but she explained how she generally handles truancy. The cases that make it to her desk are created by the district, then vetted and moved to her by the county attorney’s office.

“Other than the testimony that’s given in the courtroom, I don’t have any prior knowledge of the case until I hear it,” McLean said.

woman does paperwork at her desk

Like Redden, McLean said she believed the school districts were doing their due diligence before sending kids to court. She also acknowledged court is not always the place for correcting truant behavior.

“I don’t think it’s the court’s job to get the kiddos to school, but if the parents and the school district aren’t able to do it and it ends up in our court, then we absolutely want to help in any way we can,” McLean said.

In their own courtrooms, McLean and Redden both said they strive to help kids.

McLean said she has gone as far as visiting one student at his house to help him get on track after his father took his own life two months before graduation, and he stopped going to school. She assigned him a mentor and he was able to walk the stage for a diploma. Read McLean’s full statement and response to KXAN here.

Those anecdotes provide snapshots of how truancy court can correct behavior. But with hundreds of courts handling truancy cases across the state, and no oversight of the outcomes, it’s unclear how thousands of students are faring in the system.

When KXAN asked Nathaniel’s mom Rosa about her thoughts on the statewide truancy numbers and data issues, she didn’t have much to say. Her focus is more on her own house, her own family and Nathaniel’s future. Perhaps, his case could have been handled differently, she said.

“I was very frustrated because it seems like they didn’t give him another chance,” Rosa said. “They didn’t give him another chance and with his special education, you know, and the one-on-one treatment, I felt like he should have went to Georgetown High School, like they should have gave him an opportunity to try again.”

KXAN’s Investigative Photojournalist Richie Bowes, Graphic Artist Wendy Gonzalez, Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson and Digital Director Kate Winkle contributed to this report.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.

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