New legislation proposed by St. Petersburg Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson would require Florida school districts to implement mandatory electronic alerts when students reach truancy thresholds.
SB 1190 would direct School Boards to implement electronic alert systems meant to notify school administrators, child study teams and parents when a student misses too many days from school.
State law already requires districts to monitor truancy and to intervene when students accumulate too many unexcused absences. Rouson’s bill would standardize early notification by making the alert system mandatory statewide, rather than leaving the approach up to local discretion.
Under current law, students are considered truant if they accrue five unexcused absences within a calendar month, or 10 unexcused absences within a 90-day period. The bill does not change those thresholds.
The measure also updates statutes governing truancy intervention and district school board responsibilities to reflect the new early alert requirement. Districts would still be required to provide formal written notice, referrals to child study teams, and potentially involve the Department of Juvenile Justice or law enforcement if a student remains chronically absent.
SB 1190, filed Tuesday, would take effect July 1 if approved.
