H 930

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2026
No. 122. An act relating to addressing and preventing chronic
absenteeism.
                                    (H.930)
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
Sec. 1. FINDINGS
   The General Assembly finds that:
      (1) Chronic absenteeism is primarily an issue that should be addressed
through preventative, restorative, and assistance-based measures designed to
identify barriers to attendance and reconnect students with school. Schools
should respond to chronic absenteeism through written attendance support
plans, outreach to families, and appropriate academic, behavioral, and
community-based supports.
      (2) Truancy is distinct from chronic absenteeism and constitutes a
student’s failure to comply with compulsory attendance requirements under
Vermont law. Truancy should serve as a legal enforcement mechanism only
after reasonable school-based interventions have been attempted and have not
resulted in improved attendance. Truancy proceedings should be reserved for
circumstances in which school-based interventions have not been successful
and formal legal enforcement is necessary to ensure compliance with
compulsory attendance laws.
Sec. 2. LEGISLATIVE INTENT
   It is the intent of the General Assembly that student attendance policies in
Vermont schools prioritize early identification, supportive intervention, and
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meaningful family engagement in order to produce consistent school
attendance and student success.
Sec. 3. 16 V.S.A. chapter 25, subchapter 3 is amended to read:
                     Subchapter 3. Compulsory Attendance
§ 1120. DEFINITIONS
   As used in this chapter:
      (1) “Absence” means a student who is, for at least half the school day
when school is open, not physically on school grounds or who is not receiving
or attending educational, cocurricular, or athletic services or programming
elsewhere pursuant to a program or plan approved by:
          (A) the district, if the student is enrolled in a public school; or
          (B) an approved independent school, if the student is enrolled in an
approved independent school.
      (2) “Chronic absenteeism” means a student who is absent for any reason
for 10 percent or more of a district’s or approved independent school’s student
attendance days within one school year, regardless of whether the absences are
considered excused or unexcused.
      (3) “Excused absence” means an absence that is approved by the
superintendent or designee, or the head of school or designee for an approved
independent school, pursuant to section 1123 of this chapter, either before or
after the date or dates of the student’s absence. Excused absences shall include
days of in- or out-of-school suspension.
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      (4) “Parent or guardian” shall have its ordinary meaning; provided,
however, that it shall also mean a student in the following situations:
          (A) the student has reached the age of majority;
          (B) the student is an independent student as that term is defined under
subsection 1075(h) of this chapter; or
          (C) the student qualifies as an unaccompanied youth under the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 11431–11435.
      (5) “Truancy” means a student who accumulates 20 or more unexcused
absences either within the same school year or within a district’s or approved
independent school’s last 175 consecutive student attendance days, regardless
of whether the absences were within the same school year.
      (6) “Unexcused absence” means any student absence that does not fit
one of the categories of excused absences. Failure of the parent or guardian to
provide justification for the absence if requested by the superintendent or the
head of school for an approved independent school shall also constitute an
unexcused absence.
§ 1121. ATTENDANCE BY CHILDREN OF SCHOOL AGE REQUIRED
   A person having the control The parent or guardian of a child between the
ages of six and 16 years of age shall cause the child to attend a public school,
an approved or recognized independent school, an approved education
program, or a home study program for the full number of days for which that
school is held, unless the child:
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      (1) per medical recommendation, is mentally or physically unable so to
attend; or
      (2) has completed the tenth 10th grade; or
      (3) is excused by the superintendent or a majority of the school directors
designee or the head of school for an approved independent school or designee
as provided in this chapter; or
      (4) is enrolled in and attending a postsecondary school, as defined in
subdivision 176(b)(1) of this title, which is approved or accredited in Vermont
or another state.
§ 1122. STUDENTS UNDER SIX AND OVER 16 YEARS OF AGE
   A person having the control The parent or guardian of a child who is under
six years of age or over 16 years of age who allows the child to become
enrolled enrolls the child in kindergarten through grade 12 in a public school or
approved independent school shall cause ensure that the child to attend attends
the school continually for the full number of the school days of the term in
which he or she the child is enrolled, unless the child is mentally or physically
unable to continue or is excused in writing by the superintendent or a majority
of the school directors. In case of such enrollment, the person and the teacher,
child, parent or guardian and the superintendent, and school directors or
designee or the head of school for an approved independent school or designee
shall be under the laws and subject to the penalties relating to the attendance of
children between the ages of six and 16 years of age.
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§ 1123. ATTENDANCE SCHOOL ABSENCE MAY BE EXCUSED
   (a) The In accordance with the chronic absenteeism and truancy policy
required pursuant to section 1124 of this chapter, the superintendent of a public
school or designee or the head of school of an approved independent school or
designee may excuse, in writing, any student from attending the school for a
definite time, but for not more than ten consecutive school days and only for
emergencies or for absence from town a student’s absence for all or part of the
school day and may request justification for an absence.
   (b) The superintendent of an elementary school held for more than 175
school days in a school year may excuse, in writing, a student of the school
from attending more than 175 days. [Repealed.]
                                      ***
§ 1124. RESPONSE TO CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM
   (a) The Agency of Education, in consultation with the Vermont School
Boards Association; the Vermont Superintendents Association; the Vermont
Principals’ Association; the Vermont Independent Schools Association; the
Vermont School Counselor Association; the National Association of Social
Workers, Vermont Chapter; the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs;
and the Department for Children and Families, Family Services Division, shall
develop, and review at least every three years, a model policy on the
prevention of chronic absenteeism and truancy.
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      (1) The model policy shall:
          (A) provide guidance for the reasons a superintendent or designee or
head of school of an approved independent school or designee may excuse a
student’s absence for all or part of the school day;
          (B) provide guidance for when a superintendent or designee or head
of school of an approved independent school or designee may request
justification for an absence;
          (C) provide guidance for how to address the absence of a child with a
disability, as that term is defined in subdivision 2942(1) of this title, in
accordance with applicable State and federal law; and
          (D) consider the impact incidents of hazing, harassment, and bullying
may have on student attendance, including the importance of tailored responses
to all students struggling with safety and emotional issues that provide such
students with the emotional, academic, and social support to facilitate a
successful reintegration for returning students.
      (2) The Agency shall also develop model procedures to accompany the
model policy, which shall include a template for documentation of actions
taken according to the policy to address an absence, which shall constitute the
truancy reporting protocol. The model procedures shall also include a template
for standard documentation to be provided to parents or guardians pursuant to
section 1127 of this chapter.
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   (b) To minimize each student’s loss of educational and developmental
opportunities, and to ensure equity in the treatment of absenteeism and truancy
for all students and families, each school district and each approved
independent school shall develop, adopt, ensure the enforcement of, and make
available in the manner described under subdivision 563(1) of this title a policy
that is designed to prevent and respond to chronic absenteeism and truancy that
shall be at least as stringent as the model policy developed by the Agency.
Each superintendent and head of school of an approved independent school
shall develop and implement procedures to carry out such policies. The policy
shall be consistent with definitions in this chapter. A superintendent or a head
of school for an approved independent school shall also ensure that data on
student absences is collected and recorded in accordance with Agency of
Education requirements. Any school board or approved independent school
that fails to adopt a policy shall be presumed to have adopted the most current
model policy published by the Agency.
                                      ***
§ 1126. FAILURE TO ATTEND; NOTICE
   When a student between the ages of six and 16 years of age, who is not
excused or exempted from school attendance by one of the authorized
individuals in accordance with section 1121 of this chapter, fails to enter
school at the beginning of the academic year or, being enrolled, fails to attend
the school accumulates 20 or more unexcused absences within either the same
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school year or within the last 175 consecutive student attendance days, and
when a student who is under six years of age or at least 16 years of age
becomes enrolled in a public school in kindergarten through grade 12 and fails
to attend accumulates 20 or more unexcused absences either within the same
school year or within the last 175 consecutive student attendance days, the
teacher or principal shall notify the truant officer and either the superintendent
or the school board, unless the teacher or principal is satisfied that the student
is absent on account of illness. For Vermont resident students, the head of
school of an approved independent school or designee shall notify the
superintendent of the student’s district of residence. Upon review of the
truancy reporting protocol, the superintendent shall notify the truant officer and
Centralized Intake and Emergency Services of the Department for Children
and Families’ Family Services Division.
§ 1127. NOTICE AND COMPLAINT BY TRUANT OFFICER; PENALTY
   (a) The truant officer, upon receiving the notice and truancy reporting
protocol provided in section 1126 of this title, shall inquire into the cause of
the nonattendance of the child. If he or she the truant officer finds that the
child is absent without cause child’s absences are not excusable under section
1123 of this chapter, the truant officer shall give written notice to the person
having the control of the child that the child is absent from school without
cause and shall also notify that person to cause the child to attend school
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regularly thereafter parent or guardian that the parent or guardian must comply
with the obligations of section 1122 of this chapter.
   (b) When, after receiving notice, a person fails, without legal excuse, to
cause a child to attend school as required by this chapter, he or she shall be
fined not more than $1,000.00 pursuant to subsection (c) of this section If the
parent or guardian continues to fail, without legal excuse, to cause a child to
attend school as required by this chapter after having received the written
notice required pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the truant officer shall
enter a complaint to the State’s Attorney of the county and shall provide a
statement of the evidence and truancy reporting protocol upon which the
complaint is based.
   (c) The truant officer shall enter a complaint to the State’s Attorney of the
county and shall provide a statement of the evidence upon which the complaint
is based. The State’s Attorney shall may prosecute the person or may file a
child in need of supervision petition in accordance with 33 V.S.A. § 5309. If a
criminal information is filed under this section, a person shall not be fined
more than $1,000.00 if, after receiving notice, a person fails, without legal
excuse, to cause a child to attend school as required by this chapter. In the a
prosecution, the complaint, information, or indictment shall be deemed
sufficient if it states that the respondent (naming the respondent) having the
control of a child of school age parent or guardian (specifying if the applicable
person is a parent or guardian and naming the person) of the child (naming the
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child) neglects to send that child to a public school or an approved or
recognized independent school or a home study program as required by law.
§ 1128. LEGAL PUPIL TAKEN TO SCHOOL; NONRESIDENT CHILD
          LIVING IN DISTRICT
   (a) A superintendent may and the truant officer shall stop a child between
the ages of six and 16 years or a child 16 years of age or over and enrolled in
public school, wherever found during school hours, and shall, unless such child
is excused or exempted from school attendance, take the child to the school
that she or he should attend.
   (b) A child of legal school age who is not exempt from school attendance
and who has not finished the elementary school course and is living in a
district other than the place of legal residence shall, with the school board’s
approval, be admitted immediately to a school in the district where he or she is
found. If the child is not admitted to school, then immediate action shall be
taken by the truant officer to cause the return of the child to the district of his
or her residence. [Repealed.]
§ 1129. JURISDICTION OF NONRESIDENTS
   The superintendent of a school in which a nonresident pupil is enrolled and
a truant officer having jurisdiction of the pupils in such school shall have the
same authority and jurisdiction over such nonresident pupil and the person
having the control of such pupil parent or guardian as they have over resident
pupils and the persons having control parent or guardian of such pupils.
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                                      ***
Sec. 4. 16 V.S.A. § 1162 is amended to read:
§ 1162. SUSPENSION OR EXPULSION OF STUDENTS
                                      ***
   (e) A public school or an approved independent school may provide access
to alternative education, such as tutoring, instructional materials, and
assignments, to a student during any period of suspension of three or more
days. A public school or an approved independent school may provide access
to alternative education, such as tutoring, instructional materials, and
assignments, to a student who has been expelled, except that the school shall
provide educational access to the extent otherwise required by law.
Sec. 5. PREVENTION OF CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM; AGENCY OF
          EDUCATION POLICY; IMPLEMENTATION
   (a) On or before March 15, 2027, the Agency of Education shall submit a
written update on the efforts made to develop the model policy required
pursuant to 16 V.S.A. § 1124. The Agency shall include the most recent draft
model policy and most recent draft templates required to be developed as part
of the model policy.
   (b) The Agency of Education shall adopt and publish the model policy
required pursuant to 16 V.S.A. § 1124 on or before July 1, 2027.
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  (c) School boards and the governing bodies of approved independent
schools shall adopt and implement a chronic absenteeism policy as required by
16 V.S.A. § 1124 on or before July 1, 2028.
Sec. 6. REPEAL
  16 V.S.A. § 1076 (penalties) is repealed.
Sec. 7. HOME STUDY PROGRAM; AGENCY OF EDUCATION
          RECOMMENDATIONS; REPORT
  On or before December 1, 2026, the Agency of Education shall submit a
written report to the House and Senate Committees on Education with
recommendations for updates to Vermont’s home study program law.
Sec. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE
  This act shall take effect on July 1, 2026.
Date Governor signed bill: June 8, 2026
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