Truancy fines?

The Herald reports:

The Act Party is proposing on-the-spot fines, akin to speeding tickets, for parents of children deemed chronically absent from school.

The idea is part of its policy launched today to address what it calls the “Truancy Crisis”.

The National Party has also shown an interest in similar legislation, while the Government has said such punitive approaches had been tried in the past and failed.

Actually it is the status quo which has failed, as attendance rates have plummeted.

Act’s policy includes five ideas to get children back in the classroom regularly. This includes daily national attendance reporting, and whether any absence was justified or unjustified. The Ministry of Education would publish this daily attendance, building a national focus on the issue.

Act would also change the law to make it easier to fine parents for poor attendance from their children.

The party says that currently parents cannot be fined for student non-attendance without a court conviction, but they can be fined on the spot for speeding to school.

Act would change the Education and Training Act to allow the Ministry of Education to introduce an infringement notice regime for truancy. They would ensure police could work with schools on truants and take children they see out of school during school hours to either the school or home.

Act also proposed a traffic light system for unjustified attendance at schools. At the red setting, more than 30 per cent truant, the student would be referred to the Ministry of Education, which would decide whether to fine parents and/or refer the matter to police.

Schools would also receive funding to deal with poor attendance, weighted through the Equity Index so schools with more vulnerable student populations would receive more funding.

Seems a good mixture of carrot and stick.

On wider issues, including the massive inequities, Tinetti said their attendance strategy, launched this year, was designed to re-engage students, while the Government was on track to meet the first target of 70 per cent regular attendance by next year, and 75 per cent by 2026.

They are not on track. The regular attendance rate has dropped from 63% in 2017 to 40% in 2022.