California Repeals Its Controversial Truancy Law Punishing Parents

California parents will no longer face arrest if their children miss school following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Oct. 1 decision to approve legislation repealing the truancy law.

The 2011 law that the former vice president sponsored when she served as the state’s attorney general made it a misdemeanor for parents if their children were chronically truant by missing 10 percent or more of school days, starting in kindergarten.

The law punished parents with a fine of up to $2,000 or one year in county jail. At the time, she said the bill was an “effective strategy” to reduce chronic elementary school truancy and a smart approach to crime prevention.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/01/california-harris-truancy-00591137

Parents, how did you feel about this law? Are you glad it was repealed?

Not a current parent but I was in 2011 and I would absolutely support that law — with higher penalties. Obviously exceptions for healthcare issues would need to be there.

I see it as accountability. It’s an obligation to have your student educated. You are the parent of a minor.

Obviously the current regime disagrees. Perhaps there’s rationale wise from the outcomes. It sounds more like no one bothered to enforce. Well it will fail if that’s the case.

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The Epoch Times? Really? Someone put me on their mailing list as a joke once. Surely there is a more reliable and unbiased source for a report on this topic?

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Not familiar. What’s the scuttle ??

Just Google something like “epoch times bias”. I have seen full on conspiracy theories in some of the emails I got before i finally successfully unsubscribed. I’m not even clicking on that link.

The source is California Insider, not sure why it’s showing up as Epoch Times. Anyway, the news is confirmed in other outlets:

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/01/california-harris-truancy-00591137

Later edit: I searched and it seems like CA Insider is part of the Epoch Times media group.

Thanks - I am not disputing the veracity of the story, just looking for a reliable source reporting on it. Will check out the politico link.

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