When we talk about the "top cop" era of Kamala Harris, one policy usually hits the headlines before anything else. It's the one that people still argue about in barber shops and on political talk shows: the Kamala Harris truancy law.
Basically, it was an attempt to fix a massive problem—kids dropping out of school and ending up in the justice system—by putting their parents in the crosshairs of the law. Harris was the San Francisco District Attorney back then, and she saw a terrifying pattern. Almost every homicide victim under 25 in the city was a high school dropout. She figured if you want to stop the violence, you have to start in the classroom.
But how do you force attendance? Her answer was SB 1317.
Why the Kamala Harris Truancy Law Started in the First Place
Back in 2006, Harris launched a pilot program in San Francisco. It wasn't just about throwing the book at people immediately. She set up a three-stage system. First came the letters. Then came the "wrap-around services"—meetings where the school district and social services tried to figure out why the kid wasn't showing up. Was it a lack of transportation? Unstable housing?
Stage three was the hammer.
If nothing changed, the D.A.’s office would prosecute. Harris famously said in a 2010 speech, "I decided I was going to start prosecuting parents for truancy." She viewed a child missing out on an education as "tantamount to a crime." To her, it was an intervention. To critics, it was the beginning of a nightmare for some of California's most vulnerable families.
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The Shift from San Francisco to Statewide Law
In 2010, Harris took this model to Sacramento. She sponsored Senate Bill 1317, which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger eventually signed. This is the Kamala Harris truancy law people reference today. It added Section 270.1 to the California Penal Code.
Suddenly, if your kid was "chronically truant"—meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year without a valid excuse—you could face a misdemeanor charge. We’re talking about a $2,000 fine or up to a year in county jail.
It's a heavy-handed approach. While Harris has often said she never intended for parents to actually go to jail, the law gave local prosecutors across California the power to do exactly that.
The Reality of Arrests and the Cheree Peoples Case
While Harris claims that during her time as D.A. in San Francisco, not one parent was jailed, the statewide law she championed was used differently in other counties.
Take the case of Cheree Peoples. In 2013, police in Orange County arrested her in her pajamas while news cameras recorded the whole thing. Her daughter had missed a lot of school, sure. But there was a reason: her daughter had sickle-cell anemia. The girl was literally in the hospital or at home in debilitating pain.
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Despite the school knowing about the medical condition, the prosecution dragged on for years. This is the "unintended consequence" Harris later expressed regret over.
- Some counties like Kings County charged 19 misdemeanors and jailed at least two mothers under the law.
- Other jurisdictions used the threat of jail to "scare" parents into compliance, which Harris called "using the bully pulpit."
- In Tulare County, officials actually took pride in their prosecution numbers, seeing them as a badge of success for their attendance rates.
What the Data Actually Showed
Did it work? It depends on who you ask and what you value.
In San Francisco, truancy among elementary students reportedly dropped by 23% during the first couple of years of the initiative. Harris’s office released "In School + On Track" reports as Attorney General, which provided the first real statewide look at how many kids were missing school.
However, the human cost was high. The law disproportionately affected low-income families and families of color. If a parent is working three jobs and can't get a kid to the bus, a $2,000 fine usually makes the situation worse, not better.
The Regret and the Repeal
By the time Harris was running for President in 2019, the political winds had shifted. The "tough on crime" stance was no longer the gold standard. In an interview with Pod Save America, she admitted, "I regret that that has happened... it certainly was not the intention."
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She argued that she wanted to provide "incentives" for schools to pay attention to kids before they became statistics. But by 2025, California had seen enough. In October of that year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to officially repeal the punitive parts of the Kamala Harris truancy law, moving toward a "support-first" model that focuses on why a child is absent rather than threatening a parent with a jail cell.
Moving Toward Better Attendance Solutions
If you’re a parent or an educator looking to improve attendance without the threat of a courtroom, the focus has shifted toward these practical steps:
- Early Warning Systems: Using data to catch attendance slips in the first month of school, which is the biggest predictor of chronic absenteeism.
- Direct Outreach: Instead of a legal letter, many districts now use "warm" home visits by counselors or community liaisons.
- Addressing Transportation: Many "truancy" issues are actually "logistics" issues. Solving the bus route or providing transit passes often fixes the problem overnight.
- Health Accommodations: Ensuring students with chronic illnesses like sickle-cell anemia or asthma have formal 504 plans in place so their absences are legally protected.
Understanding the history of the Kamala Harris truancy law is about recognizing the tension between wanting the best for a child's future and the methods we use to get them there. While the law is being phased out, the debate over how to keep kids in school remains as heated as ever.
To ensure your child's absences are properly documented and don't trigger a "truancy" flag, always provide a written medical note or formal excuse to the school office within 48 hours of the missed day. If your child has a chronic medical condition, request a meeting with the school's Special Education or 504 coordinator immediately to establish a formal attendance plan.