HI SCR127

Urges county law enforcement agencies to monitor parks and other areas near schools during school hours to identify and enforce truancy laws against students who should be in school.

Cites Hawaii Revised Statutes section 302A-1132 requiring children ages 5-18 to attend school and notes that truancy is a warning sign for delinquency, social isolation, and educational failure.

Notes that high school dropouts cost the government more than $200,000 per person over a lifetime in government-funded social services.

References a 2008 Department of Education Working Group on Truancy Rate Reduction that recommended law enforcement collaboration with schools to reduce truancy rates.

Directs that certified copies be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education and the chief of police of each county.