Governor Snyder recently signed into a law a set of rules about absences from school. These laws don’t affect every kid and family. but  families living in poverty who get cash assistance from the state can lose those benefits if their children are truant. The issue is that this new law, like the state Department of Health and Human Services policy it is based on, don't define truancy.

The decision of how many, and which kind of, absences will put a families' benefits at risk will stay at the school level. "There's a lot of confusion, period." says Peri Stone-Palmquist, who runs a group called the Student Advocacy Center. She’s not a fan of this new law. A quick glance at different attendance policies bears out what Stone-Palmquist says is a lot of variation in how many absences a school will tolerate before a truancy finding. Some districts count things like tardiness and suspensions toward a truancy finding. Others are more lenient, either on paper or in practice.

For more on this article by Sarah Alveraz see the following link: http://stateofopportunity.mich...g-definition-truancy