Fine for parents

There was an article in the Dallas Morning News out of Austin. Law makers are pushing a bill through that would fine parents if they did not show up for scheduled meetings. It seems that teachers are contacting parents to discuss educational or behavior problems and the parents are not showing up. Some parents seem to feel that the raising of their kids are up to the schools. I disagree with this sediment. I know from experience that the education and raising of our children is a joint effort from all adults who are a part of our kids lives. This bill wants to fine parents $500 if they don't show up after three attempts to meet with them. Now this seems a bit extreme. I know a lot of parents, well let me rephrase that, some parents just sit back and let their kids do whatever they want and don't seem to care if their kids graduate or not. However fining them doesn't seem to be the answer either. If these parents are not willing to show up to discuss problems that their kids are having, what makes these law makers think that these same parents would pay this fine. And would this fine be per kid or just a lump sum? And how would this fine be collected? Would these parents of the year be forced to sit in jail until they come up with the fine? And what would happen to the kids if this did happen? What if the parents didn't have the $500? I know this amount would be far more then what Mike & I could afford. Not that we would not show up if we had a meeting scheduled. There would be acceptable excuses, but these would be left up to the districts and schools. This seems unfair to me. It would be better to have set standards all across the board. And what proof, if any, would you have to produce to prove that you had a legitimate reason? A note from grandma perhaps? I don't claim to have answers to these important issues, but it seems to me that there has to be a better way then fining parents.