A bill to give excused absences to pregnant and new parent students passed out of an Arkansas House committee Tuesday.
House Bill 1161, by Rep. Ashley Hudson, D-Little Rock, would require public schools and open-enrollment public charter schools to "excuse absences due to conditions related to pregnancy or parenting," including for labor, delivery, recovery, prenatal and postnatal appointments. Excused absences also will include a "legal appointment related to pregnancy or parenting," which would include hearings on adoptions, visitation and custody.
The House Education Committee unanimously approved the bill on a voice vote.
Hudson said the bill is aimed at alleviating a burden for teen parents, who may have to take time off from school to deal with medical and legal appointments that may arrive before or after the birth of a child.
"We know that outcomes are better for the parent and for the baby if their parents are able to obtain their high school degree," Hudson said. "Certainly, [it] opens up a lot more opportunity for income, for getting jobs and for furthering their education, which of course opens up a lot more opportunity for their child."
New parents would be afforded at least 10 days of excused absences after the birth of their child to help them avoid being flagged as a "habitual truant," which can happen after a student has 10 unexcused absences in a school year. Teenage parents would need to provide the school with a note from a doctor, parent or guardian excusing their absence, Hudson said. Students would be given options to make up missed schoolwork, including retaking a semester, participating in an online course credit program or be granted an additional six weeks to finish the semester at a later date.
The bill also would require schools to provide "reasonable accommodations for a lactating student," other than a restroom and "access to a place to safely store breast milk." Schools also would be required to provide pregnant and new parent students with a list of daycare facilities near campus.
"This would lower the chance of a student falling so behind academically that they risk dropping out of school altogether," said Olivia Gardner, director of education policy at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. "Unfortunately this is a sad situation that is all too common in our state."
Arkansas has the second-highest teen birth rate in the nation, behind only Mississippi, according to 2020 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hudson said her bill is modeled after a Louisiana law and her experience growing up in small-town Illinois, where teenage pregnancies were common.
"I wanted to sort of build on my experience as a high school student, and on that knowledge, and try to figure out some ways to be a little creative and [think] outside the box in trying to help these students be successful in high school and get their degrees," Hudson said.