Los Angeles City Council to Vote on Curfew Law Change

The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to change a current truancy law that fines students for being perpetually late to school.

Live Video: LA City Council Meeting

Councilman Tony Cardenas introduced a replacement measure Tuesday that would lower the fine to $20 after the third offense.

Current laws require late students to pay fines upwards of $250, which can increase to more than $800 with added court fees, Cardenas said last week.

"Being late to school 10-15 minutes is not a crime," Cardenas said. "Why would we want to give them a fine and make them lose more school time? We should be keeping them on the campus."

Students from Manual Arts and Roosevelt high schools were among the crowd of LAUSD attendees that lobbied City Hall Tuesday on an excused absence from school.

One student said meetings between students, counselors, parents and teachers would be more effective than ticketing absentee students.

Over time, the target of those fees expanded from truant students to anyone late for school with many students being booked, handcuffed and sent to court.

Another student said truancy tickets were causing students to avoid school.

"If they went to school five minutes, or ten minutes (late), and they were to see the police officers standing in front of the school gate, they would just leave," she said.

Last week, the council's Public Safety Committee, on which Cardenas sits, passed a motion to change the consequences from fines to community service or other rehabilitating penalties, such as making students propose a plan to improve their attendance.

The change is designed to keep students in school and out of court, Cardenas said.

"It's much more efficient," Cardenas said. "It's more focused on getting the kid in the classroom."

The committee cited financial burdens on low-income families as another reason for the change.

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