Compulsory Attendance

Compulsory attendance laws refer to legislative mandates that school-aged children attend public, nonpub-lic, or homeschools until reaching specified ages. The primary components of compulsory attendance laws include school admission and exit ages, length of school years, student enrollment procedures and requirements, and enforcement of student truancy provisions. Local school attendance officers and/or juvenile domestic relations courts generally enforce compulsory attendance laws. Additionally, all jurisdictions hold parents or legal guardians legally responsible for the school attendance of their children.

Consequences for students who violate compulsory attendance laws typically include removal from regular classrooms and placement in alternative school settings. In some instances, students who violate compulsory attendance laws have had their driving privileges revoked. More recently, local school officials have been able to resort to their states' ...