Compulsory School Attendance Laws

Code of Alabama, Section 16-28-12

Each parent, guardian, or other person having control or custody of any child required to attend school or receive regular instruction by a private tutor who fails to have the child enrolled in school or who fails to send the child to school, or have him or her instructed by a private tutor during the time the child is required to attend a public school, private school, church school, denominational school, or parochial school, or be instructed by a private tutor, or fails to require the child to regularly attend the school or tutor, or fails to compel the child to properly conduct himself or herself as a pupil in any public school in accordance with the written policy on school behavior adopted by the local board of education pursuant to this section and documented by the appropriate school official which conduct may result in suspension of the pupil, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100) and may also be sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than 90 days.  The absence of a child without the consent of the principal teacher of the public school he or she attends or should attend, or of the tutor who instructs or should instruct the child, shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of this section.

Code of  Alabama, Amendment 16-28-16

An amendment of 16-28-16 of the Code of Alabama, specifies that each child who enrolls in a public school, regardless of age, is subject to the School Attendance and Truancy Laws of the state.

Definition of Truancy

Alabama Department of Education

Prevention and Support Services - (May 2004)

A parent, guardian, or other person having charge of any child officially enrolled in Alabama public schools (K-12) shall explain in writing the cause of any and every absence of the child no later than three (3) days following return to school.  A failure to furnish such explanation shall be evidence of the child being truant each day he is absent.  The child shall also be deemed truant for any absence determined by the principal to be unexcused based upon the State Department of Education's current School Attendance Manual.  Three (3) unexcused absences within a school year constitute a student being truant for the purpose of filing a petition with the Court.