Sen. Rodney Ellis calls for DOJ investigation into Texas Truancy Laws

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Rodney Ellis calls for DOJ investigation into Texas Truancy Laws - Houston Chronicle</title> <link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="/web/20150321213850im_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/favicon.ico?v=2"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" href="/web/20150321213850im_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="72x72" href="/web/20150321213850im_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/apple-touch-icon-72x72-precomposed.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="114x114" href="/web/20150321213850im_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/apple-touch-icon-114x114-precomposed.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="144x144" href="/web/20150321213850im_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/apple-touch-icon-144x144-precomposed.png"/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150321213850/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/fortbend/schools/article/Sen-Rodney-Ellis-calls-for-DOJ-investigation-6144037.php"/> <meta name="description" content="A state senator urged Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday to open a Department of Justice investigation of Texas truancy laws, citing racial disparities in how they are applied, particularly in the Fort Bend Independent School District. Sen. Rodney Ellis' letter, released to The Chronicle, comes two weeks after the advocacy group Texas Appleseed published a report saying Texas filed more than 115,000 "failure to attend school" complaints in fiscal year 2013, more than twice the number of truancy cases prosecuted in all other states combined. Reconsidering Texas' Criminalization of Truancy, which says that 20 percent of truancy statewide complaints filed in the 2013-14 school year were brought against African-American students, though they made up just 13 percent public school students. Hispanic students also received a disproportionate share of the complaints: 33 percent of the truancy charges were filed against them, though they comprised 27 percent of the student body. "Simply put, these laws hurt students, particularly the African-American, Latino, and special education students who are sent to truancy court at rates much higher than students from other communities," Ellis wrote."/> <meta name="author.name" content="By Rebecca Elliott"/> <meta name="author.title" content=""/> <meta name="date.release" content="2015/19/03"/> <meta name="time.release" content="9:32"/> <meta name="publisher" content="Houston Chronicle"/> <meta name="sections" content="Fort Bend,Fort Bend Schools"/> <meta name="subject" content="laws,investigation,crime,minority group,school"/> <meta name="news_keywords" content="laws,investigation,crime,minority group,school"/> <script type="text/javascript" src="/web/20150321213850js_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/js/hdn/omniture/video.js"></script> <meta property="og:title" content="Sen. Rodney Ellis calls for DOJ investigation into Texas Truancy Laws"/> <meta property="og:description" content="A state senator urged Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday to open a Department of Justice investigation of Texas truancy laws, citing racial disparities in how they are applied, particularly in the Fort Bend Independent School District. Sen. Rodney Ellis' letter, released to The Chronicle, comes two weeks after the advocacy group Texas Appleseed published a report saying Texas filed more than 115,000 "failure to attend school" complaints in fiscal year 2013, more than twice the number of truancy cases prosecuted in all other states combined. Reconsidering Texas' Criminalization of Truancy, which says that 20 percent of truancy statewide complaints filed in the 2013-14 school year were brought against African-American students, though they made up just 13 percent public school students. Hispanic students also received a disproportionate share of the complaints: 33 percent of the truancy charges were filed against them, though they comprised 27 percent of the student body. "Simply put, these laws hurt students, particularly the African-American, Latino, and special education students who are sent to truancy court at rates much higher than students from other communities," Ellis wrote."/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20150321213850/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/fortbend/schools/article/Sen-Rodney-Ellis-calls-for-DOJ-investigation-6144037.php"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20150321213850im_/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/img/pages/article/opengraph_default.jpg"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Houston Chronicle"/>  <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image"/> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@houstonchron"/> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@rfelliott"/>  <meta property="fb:app_id" content="653292111352579"/>  <meta property="vf:unique_id" content="premiumchron-article-6144037"/> <meta 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Rodney Ellis calls for DOJ investigation into Texas Truancy Laws</h2> <h3 class="subhead">State Sen. Ellis cites report citing racial disparities in enforcement</h3>  <p class="byline">By <a href="/web/20150321213850/http://www.houstonchronicle.com/author/rebecca-elliott/">Rebecca Elliott</a></p>  <span class="datestamp"> <span class="published">March 18, 2015</span> <span class="updated updated">Updated: March 19, 2015 9:32am</span> </span> </div>   <div class="article-share">  <div class="social-links " social-url="http%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fneighborhood%2Ffortbend%2Fschools%2Farticle%2FSen-Rodney-Ellis-calls-for-DOJ-investigation-6144037.php%3Ft%3Df569bed348%26cmpid%3D" social-hashid="" social-blurb="A%20state%20senator%20urged%20Attorney%20General%20Eric%20Holder%20Wednesday%20to%20open%20a%20Department%20of%20Justice%20investigation%20of%20Texas%20truancy%20laws%2C%20citing%20racial%20disparities%20in%20how%20they%20are%20applied%2C%20particularly%20in%20the%20Fort%20Bend%20Independent%20School%20District.%0A%0ASen.%20Rodney%20Ellis%27%20letter%2C%20released%20to%20The%20Chronicle%2C%20comes%20two%20weeks%20after%20the%20advocacy%20group%20Texas%20Appleseed%20published%20a%20report%20saying%20Texas%20filed%20more%20than%20115%2C000%20%22failure%20to%20attend%20school%22%20complaints%20in%20fiscal%20year%202013%2C%20more%20than%20twice%20the%20number%20of%20truancy%20cases%20prosecuted%20in%20all%20other%20states%20combined.%0A%0AReconsidering%20Texas%27%20Criminalization%20of%20Truancy%2C%20which%20says%20that%2020%20percent%20of%20truancy%20statewide%20complaints%20filed%20in%20the%202013-14%20school%20year%20were%20brought%20against%20African-American%20students%2C%20though%20they%20made%20up%20just%2013%20percent%20public%20school%20students.%0A%0AHispanic%20students%20also%20received%20a%20disproportionate%20share%20of%20the%20complaints%3A%2033%20percent%20of%20the%20truancy%20charges%20were%20filed%20against%20them%2C%20though%20they%20comprised%2027%20percent%20of%20the%20student%20body.%0A%0A%22Simply%20put%2C%20these%20laws%20hurt%20students%2C%20particularly%20the%20African-American%2C%20Latino%2C%20and%20special%20education%20students%20who%20are%20sent%20to%20truancy%20court%20at%20rates%20much%20higher%20than%20students%20from%20other%20communities%2C%22%20Ellis%20wrote." 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Sen. Rodney Ellis calls for DOJ investigation into Texas Truancy Laws - Houston Chronicle