SF 2882

1st Engrossment - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)

Posted on 07/09/2025 01:18 p.m.

A bill for an act
relating to education; defining attendance; providing for reenrollment of students;
amending presumptions regarding children in need of protective services or
educational neglect; amending Minnesota Statutes 2024, sections 120A.22,
subdivisions 12, 13; 120A.24, subdivision 4; 120B.305, subdivision 2; 126C.05,
subdivision 8, by adding a subdivision; 260C.163, subdivision 11.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 120A.22, subdivision 12, is amended to read:

Subd. 12.

Legitimate exemptions.

(a) A parent, guardian, or other person having control
of a child may apply to a school district to have the child excused from attendance for the
whole or any part of the time school is in session during any school year. Application may
be made to deleted text begin any member of the board, deleted text end a truant officer deleted text begin , a deleted text end new text begin or the school official designated by
the new text end principal deleted text begin , or the superintendent deleted text end . The school district may state in its school attendance
policy that it may ask the student's parent or legal guardian to verify in writing the reason
for the child's absence from school. A note from a physician or a licensed mental health
professional stating that the child cannot attend school is a valid excuse. The board of the
district in which the child resides may approve the application upon the following being
demonstrated to the satisfaction of that board:

(1) that the child's physical or mental health is such as to prevent attendance at school
or application to study for the period required, which includes:

(i) child illness, medical, dental, orthodontic, or counseling appointments, including
appointments conducted through telehealth;

(ii) family emergencies;

(iii) the death or serious illness or funeral of an immediate family member;

(iv) active duty in any military branch of the United States;

(v) the child has a condition that requires ongoing treatment for a mental health diagnosis;
or

(vi) other exemptions included in the district's school attendance policy;

(2) that the child has already completed state and district standards required for graduation
from high school; or

(3) that it is the wish of the parent, guardian, or other person having control of the child
that the child attend, for a period or periods not exceeding in the aggregate three hours in
any week, instruction conducted by a Tribal spiritual or cultural advisor, or a school for
religious instruction conducted and maintained by a church, or association of churches, or
any Sunday school association incorporated under the laws of this state, or any auxiliary
thereof. This instruction must be conducted and maintained in a place other than a public
school building, and it must not, in whole or in part, be conducted and maintained at public
expense. A child may be absent from school on days that the child attends upon instruction
according to this clause.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision 6, paragraph (a), a parent may withdraw a child from
an all-day, every day kindergarten program and put their child in a half-day program, if
offered, or an alternate-day program without being truant. A school board must excuse a
kindergarten child from a part of a school day at the request of the child's parent.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 120A.22, subdivision 13, is amended to read:

Subd. 13.

deleted text begin Issuing and deleted text end Reporting deleted text begin excuses deleted text end new text begin attendance new text end .

new text begin (a) A student is counted as in
attendance on each day that a school employee is paid to supervise or provide services to
the student.
new text end

new text begin (b) new text end The deleted text begin clerk or any authorized officer of the board deleted text end new text begin principal new text end must issue and keep a
record of such excuses, under such rules as the board may from time to time establish.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025.
new text end

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 120A.24, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Reports to the state new text begin or county new text end .

new text begin (a) new text end A superintendent must make an annual
report to the commissioner of education by December 1 of the total number of nonpublic
children reported as residing in the district. The report must include the following
information:

(1) the number of children residing in the district attending nonpublic schools or receiving
instruction from persons or institutions other than a public school;

(2) the number of children in clause (1) who are in compliance with section 120A.22
and this section; and

(3) the number of children in clause (1) who the superintendent has determined are not
in compliance with section 120A.22 and this section.

new text begin (b) No later than 15 school days after the beginning of each academic term, a school
principal must report to the superintendent a list of names and last known addresses of all
students who were enrolled in the school for the previous term, are not enrolled in the school
for the current term, and were otherwise eligible for enrollment, unless the school has been
notified that the student has enrolled in another school. The superintendent must immediately
make the list received from the principal available to an authorized representative of a county
agency whose statutory purpose is to enroll students in school.
new text end

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 120B.305, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Reporting requirements.

(a) Reporting of state assessment results must:

(1) provide timely, useful, and understandable information on the performance of
individual students, schools, school districts, and the state;

(2) include a growth indicator of student achievement; and

(3) determine whether students have met the state's academic standards.

(b) The commissioner must ensure that for annual computer-adaptive assessments:

(1) individual student performance data and achievement reports are available within
three school days of when students take an assessment except in a year when an assessment
reflects new performance standards;

(2) growth information is available for each student from the student's first assessment
to each proximate assessment using a constant measurement scale;

(3) parents, teachers, and school administrators are able to use elementary and middle
school student performance data to project students' secondary and postsecondary
achievement; and

(4) useful diagnostic information about areas of students' academic strengths and
weaknesses is available to teachers and school administrators for improving student
instruction and indicating the specific skills and concepts that should be introduced and
developed for students at given performance levels, organized by strands within subject
areas, and aligned to state academic standards.

(c) The commissioner, in consultation with the chancellor of the Minnesota State Colleges
and Universities, must establish empirically derived benchmarks on the high school tests
that reveal a trajectory toward career and college readiness consistent with section 136F.302,
subdivision 1a. The commissioner must disseminate to the public the computer-adaptive
assessments and high school test results upon receiving those results.

(d) A school, school district, or charter school may provide a student's parent access to
the student's individual student performance data and achievement report that is made
available under paragraph (b), clause (1), when the performance data and report is available
to the school, school district, or charter school.

new text begin (e) An individual student report of state assessment results must include the number and
percent of days the student was absent from school the previous school year.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025.
new text end

Sec. 5.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 126C.05, subdivision 8, is amended to read:

Subd. 8.

Average daily membership.

(a) Membership for pupils in grades kindergarten
through 12 and for prekindergarten pupils with disabilities shall mean the number of pupils
on the current roll of the school, counted from the date of entry until withdrawal. The date
of withdrawal shall mean the day the pupil permanently leaves the school or the date it is
officially known that the pupil has left or has been legally excused. However, a pupil,
regardless of age, who has been absent from school for 15 consecutive school days during
the regular school year or for five consecutive school days during summer school or
intersession classes of flexible school year programs without receiving instruction in the
home or hospital shall be dropped from the roll and classified as withdrawn. Nothing in this
section shall be construed as waiving the compulsory attendance provisions cited in section
120A.22. Average daily membership equals the sum for all pupils of the number of days
of the school year each pupil is enrolled in the district's schools divided by the number of
days the schools are in session or are providing e-learning days due to inclement weather.
Days of summer school or intersession classes of flexible school year programs are only
included in the computation of membership for pupils with a disability not appropriately
served primarily in the regular classroom. A student must not be counted as more than 1.2
pupils in average daily membership under this section and section 126C.10, subdivision 2a,
paragraph (c). When the initial total average daily membership exceeds 1.2 for a pupil
enrolled in more than one school district during the fiscal year, each district's average daily
membership must be reduced proportionately.

(b) A student must not be counted as more than one pupil in average daily membership
except for purposes of section 126C.10, subdivision 2a.

new text begin (c) A school district must notify the local welfare agency of any student dropped from
its roll under paragraph (a) for unexcused absences exceeding 15 consecutive school days.
The notice to the local welfare agency must include the student's most recent contact
information on file with the school. The school must also send an email, letter, or otherwise
contact the child's family to encourage the child to reenroll in the school's programming.
new text end

new text begin (d) The local welfare agency must inform the school if it is unable to contact the student
or student's family. If the local welfare agency is unable to contact the student or student's
family, the district must notify the Department of Education that the student has been dropped
from the roll, and that the local welfare agency is unable to contact the student or student's
family. The notice to the department must include the student's most recent contact
information on file with the school.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025.
new text end

Sec. 6.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 126C.05, is amended by adding a subdivision to
read:

new text begin Subd. 21. new text end

new text begin Department of Education to encourage reenrollment. new text end

new text begin Notwithstanding any
law to the contrary, once a school district has notified the Department of Education that a
child has been removed from the attendance roll under subdivision 8, paragraph (d), the
department becomes responsible for reenrolling the child. The department must notify the
family of a child who has been unenrolled from school under subdivision 8 of county and
community resources to support the student's reenrollment in school. The department must
also notify the family of the child's right to reenroll in the child's school and of other
accessible educational opportunities that may be available to the child. The department may
work with county attorneys and other parties under chapter 260A to reenroll the child in
school.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2025.
new text end

Sec. 7.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 260C.163, subdivision 11, is amended to read:

Subd. 11.

Presumptions regarding truancy or educational neglect.

(a) A child's
absence from school is presumed to be due to the parent's, guardian's, or custodian's failure
to comply with compulsory instruction laws if the child is under deleted text begin 12 deleted text end new text begin 16 new text end years old and the
school has made appropriate efforts to resolve the child's attendance problems; this
presumption may be rebutted based on a showing by clear and convincing evidence that
the child is habitually truant. A child's absence from school without lawful excuse, when
the child is deleted text begin 12 deleted text end new text begin 16 new text end years old or older, is presumed to be due to the child's intent to be absent
from school; this presumption may be rebutted based on a showing by clear and convincing
evidence that the child's absence is due to the failure of the child's parent, guardian, or
custodian to comply with compulsory instruction laws, sections 120A.22 and 120A.24.

(b) Consistent with section 125A.091, subdivision 5, a parent's refusal to provide the
parent's child with sympathomimetic medications does not constitute educational neglect.