| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to safety and security audits at a school district or |
|
|
public junior college district and requiring deficiencies |
|
|
identified in those audits to be corrected. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 37.108, Education Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsections (b), (c), (c-1), and (c-2) and adding |
|
|
Subsections (b-2) and (c-3) to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) At least once every two [three] years, each school |
|
|
district or public junior college district shall conduct a safety |
|
|
and security audit of the district's facilities. The audit must be |
|
|
conducted by [To the extent possible, a district shall follow |
|
|
safety and security audit procedures developed by the Texas School |
|
|
Safety Center or] a person included in the registry established by |
|
|
the Texas School Safety Center under Section 37.2091 who is not an |
|
|
employee of the district. |
|
|
(b-2) If the results of a school district's or public junior |
|
|
college district's safety and security audit conducted under |
|
|
Subsection (b) identify deficiencies in the district's safety or |
|
|
security, the district shall correct the deficiencies by the date |
|
|
specified by the auditor. On or as soon as practicable after that |
|
|
date, the auditor shall conduct a follow-up audit to confirm |
|
|
whether the district has corrected the deficiencies. |
|
|
(c) A school district or public junior college district |
|
|
shall report the results of the safety and security audit conducted |
|
|
under Subsection (b) or a follow-up audit conducted under |
|
|
Subsection (b-2) to the district's board of trustees and, in the |
|
|
manner required by the Texas School Safety Center, to the Texas |
|
|
School Safety Center. A [The] report provided to the Texas School |
|
|
Safety Center under this subsection must be signed by: |
|
|
(1) for a school district, the district's board of |
|
|
trustees and superintendent; or |
|
|
(2) for a public junior college district, the |
|
|
president of the junior college district. |
|
|
(c-1) Except as provided by Subsections [Subsection] (c-2) |
|
|
and (c-3), any document or information collected, developed, or |
|
|
produced during a safety and security audit conducted under |
|
|
Subsection (b) or a follow-up audit conducted under Subsection |
|
|
(b-2) is not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government |
|
|
Code. |
|
|
(c-2) A document relating to a school district's or public |
|
|
junior college district's multihazard emergency operations plan is |
|
|
subject to disclosure if the document enables a person to: |
|
|
(1) verify that the district has established a plan |
|
|
and determine the agencies involved in the development of the plan |
|
|
and the agencies coordinating with the district to respond to an |
|
|
emergency, including the Department of State Health Services, local |
|
|
emergency services agencies, law enforcement agencies, health |
|
|
departments, and fire departments; |
|
|
(2) verify that the district's plan was reviewed |
|
|
within the last 12 months and determine the specific review dates; |
|
|
(3) verify that the plan addresses the five phases of |
|
|
emergency management under Subsection (a); |
|
|
(4) verify that district employees have been trained |
|
|
to respond to an emergency and determine the types of training, the |
|
|
number of employees trained, and the person conducting the |
|
|
training; |
|
|
(5) verify that each campus in the district has |
|
|
conducted mandatory emergency drills and exercises in accordance |
|
|
with the plan and determine the frequency of the drills; |
|
|
(6) if the district is a school district, verify that |
|
|
the district has established a plan for responding to a train |
|
|
derailment if required under Subsection (d); |
|
|
(7) verify that the district has completed a safety |
|
|
and security audit under Subsection (b) and determine the date the |
|
|
audit was conducted, the person conducting the audit, and the date |
|
|
the district presented the results of the audit to the district's |
|
|
board of trustees; |
|
|
(8) verify that the district has corrected any |
|
|
deficiencies identified by a safety and security audit conducted |
|
|
under Subsection (b) by the date specified in the audit; |
|
|
(9) verify that the district has addressed any |
|
|
recommendations by the district's board of trustees for improvement |
|
|
of the plan and determine the district's progress within the last 12 |
|
|
months; and |
|
|
(10) [(9)] if the district is a school district, |
|
|
verify that the district has established a visitor policy and |
|
|
identify the provisions governing access to a district building or |
|
|
other district property. |
|
|
(c-3) If the Texas School Safety Center receives a report |
|
|
under Subsection (c) on the results of a follow-up audit conducted |
|
|
under Subsection (b-2) indicating that a school district or public |
|
|
junior college district has failed to correct a deficiency |
|
|
identified in the preceding safety and security audit conducted |
|
|
under Subsection (b), the center shall notify the agency of the |
|
|
district's failure to correct the deficiency. The agency shall |
|
|
maintain on the agency's Internet website a publicly accessible |
|
|
list of school districts and public junior college districts for |
|
|
which the agency receives notice under this section. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 37.108(b-2), Education Code, as added by |
|
|
this Act, applies only to a safety and security audit conducted |
|
|
under that section on or after the effective date of this Act. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |