DC legislation would send truant teenagers to social service programs instead of court

The Council of the District of Columbia will consider emergency legislation that would send truant teenagers to social service programs instead of court.

The measure, introduced by D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, would establish a temporary pilot program at five Washington high schools that had truancy rates greater than 50% last school year.

Under the legislation, the schools would refer students with 15 unexcused full-day absences to the Department of Human Services.

The DHS would publish a report in August 2025 describing the most common truancy intervention services that students referred to the agency used, the most common reasons for student absenteeism, the performance of students before and after they were referred to the DHS, and the performance and attendance outcomes of the five schools participating in the program compared to similar nonparticipating schools.

“I’m hopeful that this will actually move the needle forward in terms of whether there’s a better approach for dealing with attendance in our schools,” Mendelson said Monday.

Truancy, the percentage of students with at least 10 unexcused absences, was a whopping 47% in the district's public high schools during the 2022-23 school year, according to data from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. Chronic absenteeism, the percentage of students who miss at least 10% of the school year, was 60%.

Schools are supposed to send students with more than 15 unexcused absences to court, but they often do not, and the attorney general’s office has declined to prosecute truancy cases, the Washington Post reported .

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“While prosecution of students or parents may seem appealing in the abstract, it makes little sense when applied to truancy,” First Assistant Attorney General Lauren Haggerty said at a June hearing.

The pilot program would go into effect during the 2024-25 school year if the legislation passes and is signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser .