Relating to the inclusion of chronically absent and truant students as students at risk of dropping out of school and the collection and reporting of data regarding those students.

Contracts

• SIS Vendors (PowerSchool, Skyward, etc.): Review Master Services Agreements immediately. Ensure your vendor is contractually obligated to provide statutory compliance updates to data fields without charging for "custom reporting."
• Third-Party Truancy Services: Amend contracts to require that external vendors provide data reports that specifically flag students meeting the new statutory definition of "truant" (10 unexcused absences/6 months) in a format ingestible by your PEIMS team.

Hiring/Training

• Attendance Officers & PEIMS Coordinators: Train staff on the distinction between the two new "At-Risk" triggers: *Chronic Absenteeism* (>10% absence rate) vs. *Truancy* (10+ unexcused days).
• Program Directors: Staff managing State Compensatory Education (SCE) funds must now coordinate with attendance officers to verify that students receiving services are correctly tagged as "At-Risk" in the system to justify funding.

Reporting & Record-Keeping

• New Data Cross-Reference: You must report to TEA not only the number of chronically absent/truant students but specifically disaggregate this data by whether the student received compensatory education services.
• Audit Trails: Maintain strict documentation linking the "At-Risk" tag (based on attendance) to the specific expenditure of SCE funds (e.g., tutoring, counseling). Failure to document this link creates liability for funding clawbacks during TEA audits.

Fees & Costs

• Internal Admin Costs: Anticipate increased administrative hours for data reconciliation between attendance and federal/state programs departments.
• No New State Fees: There are no new filing fees associated with this legislation.