Iowa Code § 299.8: “Truant” defined.

Any child of compulsory attendance age, to whom the exceptions described in section 299.1, subsection 4, paragraph “b”, or section 299.2 do not apply, who has been absent from school, for any reason, for at least twenty percent of the days or hours in the grading period, shall be deemed to be a truant. A finding that a child is truant, however, shall not by itself mean that the child is a child in need of assistance within the meaning of chapter 232 and shall not be the sole basis for a child in need of assistance petition.