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A RESOLUTION
20-245
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
July 10, 2013
To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to amend An Act To provide for compulsory school attendance, for the taking of a school census in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes to establish truancy procedures with inter-agency coordination, and to require the Office of the Attorney General to submit an annual truancy status report; to amend the State Education Office Establishment Act of 2000 to require that a truancy prevention resource guide be available by August 1, 2013; to require the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to submit to the Mayor and the Secretary to the Council recommendations for eliminating out-of-school suspensions and expulsions; and to amend the Safe Children and Safe Neighborhoods Educational Neglect Mandatory Reporting Amendment Act of 2010, An Act To provide for the mandatory reporting by physicians and institutions in the District of Columbia of certain physical abuse of children, and An Act To provide for compulsory school attendance, for the taking of a school census in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes to make technical and conforming amendments.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Attendance Accountability Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2013”.
Sec. 2. (a) In June of 2013, the Council enacted the Attendance Accountability Amendment Act 0f 2013, signed by the Mayor on June 24, 2012 (D.C. Act 20-94; 60 DCR 9839) (“permanent act”), which has new requirements for the Office of the Attorney General, Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and educational institutions.
(b) The permanent act must complete the 30-day review period required by section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and is not projected to become law until after the school year begins, which for the District of Columbia Public Schools is August 26.
(c) It is of vital importance that the agencies referenced in subsection (a) of this section, in particular the educational institutions, be able to implement the requirements of the permanent act by the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Attendance Accountability Emergency Amendment Act of 2013 be adopted after a single reading.
Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
