Texas Municipal Courts Education Center

Truancy FAQ

Should a truancy court open a file on every referral the court receives from a school district?  Or should the court wait to open a file until the prosecutor files a petition? 

There may not be an absolute right or wrong on this.  If no “case” really exists until the prosecutor files a petition, resist creating a file until a petition is filed by the prosecutor.

It would be okay to keep a list of the referrals that are made by the school districts.  But this is different from creating a new case file. 

Also, for statistical purposes, a new case does not come into existence until a petition is filed. (Ted Wood, Office of Court Administration)