January 27, 2005, Introduced by Reps. Lemmons, III, Lemmons, Jr., Meisner, Vagnozzi, Accavitti, Virgil Smith, Murphy, Farrah, Hopgood, Waters, Phillips and Steil and referred to the Committee on Education.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 451, entitled
"The revised school code,"
by amending sections 1561 and 1596 (MCL 380.1561 and 380.1596),
section 1561 as amended by 1996 PA 339.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1561. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this section,
every parent, guardian, or other person in this state having
control
and charge of a child from the age of 6 to the child's
sixteenth
eighteenth birthday shall
send that child to a public
school during the entire school year. The child's attendance shall
be continuous and consecutive for the school year fixed by the
school district in which the child is enrolled. In a school
district that maintains school during the entire calendar year and
in which the school year is divided into quarters, a child is not
required to attend the public school more than 3 quarters in 1
calendar year, but a child shall not be absent for 2 or more
consecutive quarters.
(2) A child becoming 6 years of age before December 1 shall be
enrolled on the first school day of the school year in which the
child's sixth birthday occurs. A child becoming 6 years of age on
or after December 1 shall be enrolled on the first school day of
the school year following the school year in which the child's
sixth birthday occurs.
(3) A child is not required to attend a public school in any
of the following cases:
(a) The child is attending regularly and is being taught in a
state approved nonpublic school, which teaches subjects comparable
to those taught in the public schools to children of corresponding
age and grade, as determined by the course of study for the public
schools of the district within which the nonpublic school is
located.
(b) The child is less than 9 years of age and does not reside
within 2-1/2 miles by the nearest traveled road of a public school.
If transportation is furnished for pupils in the school district of
the child's residence, this subdivision does not apply.
(c) The child is age 12 or 13 and is in attendance at
confirmation classes conducted for a period of 5 months or less.
(d) The child is regularly enrolled in a public school while
in attendance at religious instruction classes for not more than 2
class hours per week, off public school property during public
school hours, upon written request of the parent, guardian, or
person in loco parentis under rules promulgated by the state board.
(e) The child has graduated from high school or has fulfilled
all requirements for high school graduation.
(f) The child is being educated at the child's home by his or
her parent or legal guardian in an organized educational program in
the subject areas of reading, spelling, mathematics, science,
history, civics, literature, writing, and English grammar.
(4) For a child being educated at the child's home by his or
her parent or legal guardian, exemption from the requirement to
attend public school may exist under either subsection (3)(a) or
(3)(f), or both.
Sec. 1596. (1) The board of a school district other than a
primary school district may establish 1 or more ungraded schools
for the instruction of certain pupils classified in subsection (2).
The board may require the pupils to attend an ungraded school or a
department of the school as the board directs.
(2)
The following cases of persons, aged A child age 7 to
the
sixteenth his or her eighteenth birthday residing who
resides in the school district shall be deemed and who meets 1 or
more
of the following is considered a
juvenile disorderly persons
person and in the judgment of the proper school authorities may be
assigned to the ungraded school or department:
(a)
Class 1, habitual truants A
child who is habitually
truant from the school in which they are he or she is enrolled as
pupils
a pupil.
(b)
Class 2, children A
child who, while attending school,
are
is incorrigibly turbulent,
disobedient, and insubordinate, or
who
are is immoral in conduct.
(c)
Class 3, children A child who are is not attending
school
and who habitually frequent frequents streets and other
public places, having no lawful business, employment, or
occupation.