Tennessee
Memphis Truancy Problem Prompts Curfew Discussion
An increasing number of truant public school students has prompted the Memphis City Council’s Public Safety Committee to discuss a daytime curfew. This measure would authorize police officers to arrest children of compulsory attendance age found in public places during school hours.
No ordinance has been proposed, however, because Memphis City Attorney Robert Spence has advised committee members that state law does not authorize police officers to enforce truancy violations. Spence pointed out that Tennessee Code Annotated § 49-6-3006 states that the “sole responsibility and authority for the enforcement of the compulsory attendance laws . . . are hereby placed in the local board of education and its designated employees and officers.” Accordingly, Spence said the Tennessee General Assembly would have to change state law to empower police officers to arrest truants.
Home School Legal Defense Association has been monitoring the progress of these discussions through reports from Memphis home school leaders attending the committee’s meetings. HSLDA agrees with the city attorney that state law does not permit police officers to enforce the compulsory attendance requirements. Further, HSLDA does not favor the expansion of police officers’ authority through state legislation.
Since state law does not prescribe any particular hours for home instruction, home school students are often the unwarranted targets of truancy prevention. HSLDA has successfully challenged the constitutionality of daytime curfews enacted to enforce compulsory school attendance. Such laws violate citizens’ right to move about freely.
Tennessee home educators should be alert for an effort to change the truancy law during the 2000 legislative session. – Dewitt T. Black
