(MCT) — Gov. Pat Quinn, state lawmakers and Chicago officials on Monday moved emphatically to address a crisis in elementary-age truancy in city schools exposed by a recent Chicago Tribune investigation.

State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, who chairs the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, began assembling a task force that would include top state and city officials to weigh changes in state laws and other reforms aimed at reversing the crippling pattern of absenteeism in kindergarten through eighth grade.