School district; require drug testing of truant students in Grade 6-12.
HB 1595 would require every Mississippi school district to adopt, before the 2025-2026 school year, a policy mandating drug testing for public school students in grades 6 through 12 who are found truant under the Mississippi Compulsory School Attendance Law. The bill ties the testing requirement to excessive absences and requires a student to show proof of a negative drug test before returning to class. If a student tests positive, the bill directs school officials to notify the student and parents in writing and refer the student to the Department of Mental Health for assessment and possible mental health, educational, and substance-abuse services.
The bill also sets out detailed procedures for how testing must be conducted, including use of county health departments, chain-of-custody protections, urinalysis dipstick initial testing, optional confirmation testing, and confidentiality rules. Parents or guardians would be responsible for the cost of the initial and any confirmation test, and students could challenge positive results, including by showing lawful prescription use. The State Board of Education, working with the State Board of Health and Department of Mental Health, would have to adopt implementing rules, and the Department of Education would have to prepare a model district policy.
HB 1595 would amend Section 37-13-91 of the Mississippi Code, the Compulsory School Attendance Law, by adding drug testing as an additional consequence for students who exceed allowable absences or persist in chronic truancy. It would create a new statewide framework for district-level drug testing policies, impose reporting and confidentiality requirements, and require coordination with county health departments and state health agencies. The bill would also establish that positive test results are not to be reported to law enforcement or used in criminal actions, while allowing schools to use the information for disciplinary, statistical, or research purposes.
No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no documented legislative debate or vote history to gauge support or opposition. Based on the bill text alone, the measure is framed as a student-safety and early-intervention policy, emphasizing drug prevention, parental notification, and counseling rather than punishment. The overall tone of the bill is strongly interventionist and protective, with the stated goal of creating a drug-free school environment.
The main points of contention likely concern student privacy, the scope of state authority over minors, and the fairness of conditioning school readmission on drug testing for truancy. The bill requires parents to pay for testing, which could be disputed as a financial burden on families, and it allows testing for alcohol and legal drugs used illegally, which may raise questions about implementation and accuracy. Another likely issue is the mandatory referral and testing regime for truant students, especially the use of school attendance officers and county health departments, though the bill attempts to address concerns by keeping results confidential and excluding law enforcement access.