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United States Senate

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OFFERED

January 20th 2015

Senate Bill No.: 7735

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Author: Melissa Block

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

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Attendance Matters Act of 2015

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13PURPOSE
14 FOR the
15goal

SECTION

purpose of this act is to create a process by which the United States may achieve the

of increasing school attendance of students from families below the poverty line in order to

16encourage
17break the

behaviors, which will lead to improving educational outcomes, which should help to

cycle of poverty in such families.

18PREAMBLE
19WHEREAS
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truancy and poor school attendance are commonly found in poverty-stricken areas

high rates of unemployment and high crime; and

21WHEREAS
22school

school dropouts are two and a half times more likely to be on welfare than high

graduates; and,

23WHEREAS

children who do not complete school often become a burden on society as

24incarcerated

adults; and

25WHEREAS

low-income students are four times more likely to be chronically absent from school

26than

others; and

27WHEREAS
28there is
29out

the cycle of poverty and all of its factors, once started, is likely to continue unless

outside intervention, and habitual truancy is the first indicator of the eventual dropping

of school; and

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31WHEREAS

57% of violent crimes committed by juveniles occur on school days; and

32WHEREAS

82% of prisoners are school dropouts; and

33WHEREAS

an estimated 1.3 million high school students drop out of school every year; and

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35THEREFORE

BE IT ENACTED BY THE UNITED STATES SENATE that the Attendance

36Matters Act will encourage students


37education

living in poverty to attend school, to complete their

and thereby reward themselves, their families and society with the benefits of

38schooling.
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40Section

1 - ENACTMENT CLAUSE

411a. To create the Office of Attendance (OA)


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that will oversee school attendance. The office will

part of the Federal Department of Education (the ED).

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441b. The

primary focus of the OA is to monitor attendance records for students in grades K-12

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belong to families below the poverty line (eligible students). As attendance requirements

46(The

requirements) are met, the OA will deposit money (attendance rewards) into a newly

47created

Educational Savings Account (ESA). The ESAs will be funded by increase ED spending

48from the ESEA (Elementary, Secondary, Education, Act). The funds


49the

in ESAs, while owned by

students family, are only available by the student when he/she has graduated from high

50school.
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521c. The

OA will work with the ED to make sure that attendance records at schools are accurate

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complete. As attendance rewards are earned, the OA will submit the familys information to

54the

US Treasury so that it, as the manager for all of the Federal debt, will deposit the appropriate

55reward

into the ESA.

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571d.

Families will receive monthly reports of their eligible childs ESA with the hope that the

58reports

will motivate families to maintain their students high attendance.

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602a. The

reports will also provide families with the opportunity to reconcile their schools

61attendance records
62working

with the rewards reflected in the account. Any errors can be addressed by

with the school secretary or the school administration.

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642b. At

any time the student can redeem the full amount of his/her ESA by submitting a

65redemption form to
66student

the OA. A redemption form will only be accepted with evidence that the

has enrolled in a college, a training program, or a workplace training recognized by the

67ED.
68As

used in the bill:

69Poverty:

As defined by the Federal Census Bureau

70The Requirements:
71school
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The mandatory amount of days a student has to attend school is 90% of the

days per month. If a student attends school for at least 90% of the eligible days there will

no additional reward, however if a student does not attend the full percentage they will not

73receive

any money.

74Attendance
75success
76will

Rewards: With the first month of school being most critical for determining the

for the rest of the year, if a student attends 90% of the school days in September he/she

receive $300. If a student attends 90% of the school days in the months October through

77June he/

she will receive $200 dollars for each of those months.

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79Section

2 - ENFORCEMENT

801a. The

National Center for School Engagement (NCSE) will be responsible for overseeing and

81enforcing
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this law. The NCSE will be in charge of teaching the administration at schools across

country and get them prepared to help their own school district.

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841b. Administration
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at schools will be in charge of their particular school district, by calculating

days each student is present, work with the government and NCSE in putting money into

86savings

accounts, and enforcing the bill to people in their community.

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88Section

3 - CLOSING SECTION

89To give

schools the proper education on this bill, the Attendance Maters Act, will go in

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effect on August of 2015.

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92SECTION
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4. All laws in conflict with this legislation are hereby declared null and void.

96Melissa Block
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2010 Harvard Institute for Congressional Debate


#1

Legislation

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