California Law

California Law states any pupil subject to full-time education or to compulsory continuing education who is absent from school without a valid excuse for more than three days or is tardy in excess of 30 minutes more than three days in one school year is a truant and shall be reported to the attendance officer or the superintendent of the school district (E.C. 48260). Upon a student's classification as a truant, parents are to be notified by mail (E.C. 48260.5). During school hours, a school administrator or designee may arrest or assume temporary custody of any minor subject to a compulsory full-time or compulsory continuing education found away from home and who is absent from school without a valid excuse (E.C. 48264). Recent legislation also permits the court to suspend, restrict, or delay the Driver's License of a student who has been declared as a habitual truant when that student is also a ward of the Juvenile Court (Vehicle Code 13202.7).