Florida SB 1190: Cooling Towers

Bill Text

1190 
Enforcement of School Attendance 
2026-01-06T06:17:05Z 
Requiring district school boards to implement a mandatory alert system within specified systems or platforms to notify certain persons when a student reaches the truancy threshold for absences, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 1190 

 By Senator Rouson 

 16-00989-26 20261190__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to enforcement of school attendance; 
 3 amending s. 1003.26, F.S.; requiring district school 
 4 boards to implement a mandatory alert system within 
 5 specified systems or platforms to notify certain 
 6 persons when a student reaches the truancy threshold 
 7 for absences; amending ss. 984.151 and 1003.02, F.S.; 
 8 conforming cross-references to changes made by the 
 9 act; providing an effective date. 
 10 
 11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 12 
 13 Section 1. Present paragraphs (b) through (h) of subsection 
 14 (1) of section 1003.26, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as 
 15 paragraphs (c) through (i), respectively, a new paragraph (b) is 
 16 added to that subsection, and paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of 
 17 that section is amended, to read: 
 18 1003.26 Enforcement of school attendance.—The Legislature 
 19 finds that poor academic performance is associated with 
 20 nonattendance and that school districts must take an active role 
 21 in promoting and enforcing attendance as a means of improving 
 22 student performance. It is the policy of the state that each 
 23 district school superintendent be responsible for enforcing 
 24 school attendance of all students subject to the compulsory 
 25 school age in the school district and supporting enforcement of 
 26 school attendance by local law enforcement agencies. The 
 27 responsibility includes recommending policies and procedures to 
 28 the district school board that require public schools to respond 
 29 in a timely manner to every unexcused absence, and every absence 
 30 for which the reason is unknown, of students enrolled in the 
 31 schools. District school board policies shall require the parent 
 32 of a student to justify each absence of the student, and that 
 33 justification will be evaluated based on adopted district school 
 34 board policies that define excused and unexcused absences. The 
 35 policies must provide that public schools track excused and 
 36 unexcused absences and contact the home in the case of an 
 37 unexcused absence from school, or an absence from school for 
 38 which the reason is unknown, to prevent the development of 
 39 patterns of nonattendance. The Legislature finds that early 
 40 intervention in school attendance is the most effective way of 
 41 producing good attendance habits that will lead to improved 
 42 student learning and achievement. Each public school is required 
 43 to implement the following steps to promote and enforce regular 
 44 school attendance: 
 45 (1) CONTACT, REFER, AND ENFORCE.— 
 46 (b) To support the timely communication and intervention 
 47 for students with absences, each district school board shall 
 48 implement a mandatory electronic alert system within its data 
 49 management system or educational platform to notify school 
 50 administrators, the child study team, and a student’s parent 
 51 when a student reaches the school district’s truancy threshold 
 52 for absences. 
 53 (2) GIVE WRITTEN NOTICE.— 
 54 (a) Under the direction of the district school 
 55 superintendent, a designated school representative must provide 
 56 written notice in person or by return-receipt mail to the 
 57 parent, requiring the child’s enrollment or attendance within 3 
 58 days after the date of notice, when no valid reason is found for 
 59 a student’s nonenrollment in school if the child is under 
 60 compulsory education requirements, and is not exempt. If the 
 61 child is not enrolled or in attendance in school within 3 days 
 62 after the notice being provided, the designated school 
 63 representative must report the case to the district school 
 64 superintendent, who must refer the case to the child study team 
 65 in paragraph (1)(c) (1)(b) at the school the student would be 
 66 assigned according to district school board attendance area 
 67 policies. In addition, the designated school representative may 
 68 refer the case to the Department of Juvenile Justice’s 
 69 authorized agent for families in need of services. The child 
 70 study team must diligently facilitate intervention services and 
 71 report the case back to the district school superintendent 
 72 within 15 days after referral of the case if reasonable efforts 
 73 to resolve the nonenrollment behavior have been made and the 
 74 child is still not attending school. If the parent refuses to 
 75 cooperate or enroll the child in school within 15 days after 
 76 referral of the case to the child study team, the distri