If you followed the 2020 presidential primaries or the 2024 election cycle, you probably heard the whispers—or the shouts—about "top cop" Kamala Harris. One of the biggest points of friction is the Kamala Harris truancy program. It’s a policy that started in San Francisco and eventually went statewide, leaving a trail of intense debate, some success stories, and several families who felt the heavy hand of the law in ways they never expected.
Honestly, the whole thing is more complicated than a 30-second campaign ad makes it out to be.
It started back in 2006. Harris was the District Attorney of San Francisco. She noticed something pretty grim: 94% of the city’s homicide victims under the age of 25 were high school dropouts. To her, this wasn't just an education issue. It was a public safety crisis. Basically, her logic was that if you keep kids in school, you keep them alive and out of prison later.
The San Francisco Years: A "Huge Stick"
Harris didn't just want to send nice letters home. She wanted a "huge stick" to wave at parents.
The program in San Francisco worked in three stages.
- Education: Schools would tell parents that attendance is mandatory.
- Intervention: If a kid kept missing school, the parents were brought into a "truancy court" for mediation. This is where they’d get help with stuff like transportation or housing.
- Prosecution: This was the last resort. If parents basically ignored all the help, the D.A.’s office would charge them with a misdemeanor.
You’ve probably seen the video of her from 2010 where she’s laughing about sending a "prosecutor with a badge" into a school meeting to scare people. To critics, it looked like she was making light of criminalizing poverty. To her supporters, it was a way to force the system to pay attention to kids who were falling through the cracks.
💡 You might also like: Russia's 267 drones entered Ukraine on Saturday night: What really happened
During her time as D.A., her office prosecuted about 25 parents. Nobody in San Francisco actually went to jail during this period, but the threat was very real. According to the San Francisco Unified School District, the initiative actually reduced elementary school truancy by 23% over two years.
Going Statewide with SB 1317
When Harris became California’s Attorney General, she took this model to the state capitol. She sponsored a bill called SB 1317, which was introduced by Senator Mark Leno and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010.
This law made "chronic truancy" a misdemeanor.
It defined a chronic truant as a student missing 10% or more of the school year without a valid excuse.
The penalties? A fine of up to $2,000 or up to a year in county jail.
Here is where the "unintended consequences" started to kick in. While Harris says she never intended for parents to actually sit in a jail cell, once the law was on the books, she didn't have total control over how every local D.A. in California's 58 counties used it.
The Case of Cheree Peoples
One of the most famous and heartbreaking stories involves Cheree Peoples from Orange County. In 2013, she was arrested and led away in handcuffs because her daughter had missed a significant amount of school.
The catch? Her daughter had sickle cell anemia.
She was frequently hospitalized. Even though the school knew about the illness, the bureaucratic gears of the truancy law kept turning. Peoples fought the charges for years. This is the kind of situation that makes people look at the Kamala Harris truancy program and see a policy that was too blunt for the nuances of real life.
✨ Don't miss: Missing Persons Photos: Why Some Go Viral and Others Are Ignored
Why it's still a talking point in 2026
The law stayed on the books for a long time. It wasn't until very recently that the tide fully turned. In late 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to finally repeal the misdemeanor charge for parents of truant students.
The rationale for the repeal was simple: criminalizing struggling families doesn't actually fix the root causes of absenteeism. Poverty, lack of reliable transportation, and chronic health issues don't go away because you threaten a mother with jail time.
Harris herself has walked back her stance. During her 2020 run, she expressed regret, saying the jailing of parents was a consequence she hadn't wanted. She’s pivoted toward supporting more "holistic" approaches, like the ones she backed in 2016 which focused on data and early intervention rather than just punishment.
What the data actually tells us
Was it effective? That depends on how you measure "success."
| Metric | San Francisco Era | Statewide (Post-2010) |
|---|---|---|
| Truancy Reduction | Reported 23-32% drop | Hard to track consistently |
| Primary Focus | Elementary (K-5) | K-8 focus |
| Sanctions | Mediation first | Fines and potential jail |
| Known Jailings | 0 in SF | Several in other counties |
The 2013 "In School + On Track" report issued by her office showed that 1 million elementary students in California were truant. The cost to districts was roughly $1.4 billion in lost funding. For a prosecutor, those numbers were a call to action. For a social worker, they were a sign of systemic failure.
Taking Action: Navigating Attendance Today
If you're a parent or an educator looking at the legacy of the Kamala Harris truancy program, the landscape is much different now. Since the repeal, the focus is on "Support, not Sanctions."
💡 You might also like: State of Emergency Trump: What Really Happened and Why it Matters Now
- Check your local district’s SARB (Student Attendance Review Board) process. These boards are meant to be help-oriented, not just a pathway to court.
- Documentation is everything. If your child has a medical condition, ensure a 504 Plan or an IEP (Individualized Education Program) is officially on file. Verbal agreements with teachers aren't enough to stop the automated truancy systems.
- Request "wrap-around services." If transportation or housing is why your kid is missing school, districts often have resources or grants specifically for this.
- Know your rights. In California, as of 2026, you cannot be charged with a misdemeanor solely for your child's truancy.
The evolution of this policy shows a massive shift in how we think about "law and order" in the classroom. We've moved from using a "huge stick" to trying to build better bridges. It’s a messy, imperfect history, but it’s one that redefined the relationship between California parents and the legal system.
Next Steps for Readers
To better understand the current legal protections for parents in your area, you should contact your local School Attendance Review Board (SARB) and ask for their current "Intervention Flowchart." This document will outline exactly what steps the school must take to support your family before any legal referrals are made.