<p>Fighting truancy in Franklin County, Ohio:The Columbus Dispatch )</p>
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Ohio law says officials can suspend students’ licenses or permits if they have more than 15 unexcused absences from school.</p>
<p>The rule is not new, but this year a Franklin County agency that works with school districts on truancy cases says it is going to use it a lot more.</p>
<p>“We’re hitting this hard,” said Flo Burke, director of support services at the Educational Service Center of Franklin County, which provides training, services and buying power for local districts.</p>
<p>The center hopes that the tougher rules will deter students from habitually skipping school, Burke said. Previous efforts, including parent conferences, have not worked for some students, she said.</p>
<p>Students who miss more than 15 days during the school year typically are referred to juvenile court, where judges can place them on probation, remove them from their home or suspend their driver’s license or permit.</p>
<p>But such cases can take months to reach a judge, Burke said.</p>
<p>The law **allows school districts to suspend licenses or permits as they send the cases to court, **instead of waiting for a ruling by a judge.</p>
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<p>[The</a> Columbus Dispatch : Schools go after kids’ licenses to curb truancy](<a href=“http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/13/noschool_nodriving.ART_ART_10-13-08_A1_NSBJ986.html?sid=101]The ”>http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/13/noschool_nodriving.ART_ART_10-13-08_A1_NSBJ986.html?sid=101 )</p>
binx
October 13, 2008, 4:03pm
2
<p>In Georgia, it’s 10 unexcused absences.</p>
<p>[Georgia</a> Driver’s Education Commission: School and Your Drivers License](<a href=“Home | Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety ”>Home | Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety )</p>
febpita
November 11, 2008, 11:55am
3
<p>test message ignore</p>
<p>Wow, ridiculous. Hello, big brother.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the state of Illinois has a similar law. I like it personally…</p>
<p>Maybe they should take the parents’ licenses too. I think attendance might go way up.</p>
<p>This doesn’t surprise me. To get a license in Texas you have to show verification of enrollment, presumalby so as not to reward dropouts. Never occured to me that they’d use school enrollment as a way of maintaining your license.</p>