| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to information reported through the Public Education |
|
|
Information Management System and to parents regarding |
|
|
disciplinary measures used by a public school. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 37.0011(b), Education Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(b) If the board of trustees of an independent school |
|
|
district adopts a policy under Section 37.001(a)(8) or the |
|
|
governing body of an open-enrollment charter school adopts a policy |
|
|
under Section 12.131(a) under which corporal punishment is |
|
|
permitted as a method of student discipline: |
|
|
(1) not later than the beginning of each school year, |
|
|
the district or school must provide to each student's parent, |
|
|
guardian, or other person having lawful control over the student |
|
|
for whom the district or school has an e-mail address a notice by |
|
|
e-mail that includes: |
|
|
(A) a statement of that person's right to |
|
|
prohibit the use of corporal punishment against the student; |
|
|
(B) the district's or school's policy on the use |
|
|
of corporal punishment and the definition of corporal punishment |
|
|
under Subsection (a); |
|
|
(C) the procedure, in a readily understandable |
|
|
format, for the parent, guardian, or other person having lawful |
|
|
control over the student to prohibit the use of corporal punishment |
|
|
against the student; and |
|
|
(D) a conspicuous statement that, as provided by |
|
|
Subsection (c), a new written, signed statement must be submitted |
|
|
by a student's parent, guardian, or other person having lawful |
|
|
control over the student to the district or school each school year |
|
|
to prohibit the use of corporal punishment against the student |
|
|
during that school year; and |
|
|
(2) [,] a district or school educator may use corporal |
|
|
punishment to discipline a student during a school year unless the |
|
|
student's parent or guardian or other person having lawful control |
|
|
over the student has previously provided a written, signed |
|
|
statement prohibiting the use of corporal punishment as a method of |
|
|
student discipline for that school year. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Education Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 37.024 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 37.024. REQUIRED PEIMS REPORTING OF DISCIPLINARY |
|
|
MEASURES; REPORT. (a) Each school district and open-enrollment |
|
|
charter school shall include in the district's or school's Public |
|
|
Education Information Management System (PEIMS) report the total |
|
|
number, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, status as |
|
|
receiving special education services, and status as being in the |
|
|
conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective |
|
|
Services, of, as applicable: |
|
|
(1) incidents of uses of corporal punishment, if the |
|
|
district or school permits the use of corporal punishment; |
|
|
(2) reports to local law enforcement under Section |
|
|
37.015 or 37.0151; |
|
|
(3) suspensions of students by the district or school, |
|
|
disaggregated by the number of students who received: |
|
|
(A) only one out-of-school suspension during the |
|
|
year; |
|
|
(B) more than one out-of-school suspension |
|
|
during the year; and |
|
|
(C) one or more in-school suspensions; |
|
|
(4) changes in school placement, including placement |
|
|
in a juvenile justice alternative education program or a |
|
|
disciplinary alternative education program; |
|
|
(5) discretionary and mandatory expulsions, including |
|
|
expulsions arising under a zero-tolerance policy adopted by the |
|
|
district or school; |
|
|
(6) citations for Class C misdemeanors; |
|
|
(7) arrests; and |
|
|
(8) referrals to a truancy court. |
|
|
(b) The agency shall: |
|
|
(1) aggregate the data required under Subsection (a) |
|
|
by state, region, district or school, and campus in an annual report |
|
|
that is readily understandable; |
|
|
(2) make the report publicly available on the agency's |
|
|
Internet website; and |
|
|
(3) provide the report to each school district and |
|
|
open-enrollment charter school. |
|
|
(c) Each school district and open-enrollment charter school |
|
|
shall provide annually to each student's parent, guardian, or other |
|
|
person having lawful control over a student enrolled in the |
|
|
district or school for whom the district or school has an e-mail |
|
|
address a notice by e-mail that includes: |
|
|
(1) a copy of the report under Subsection (b); |
|
|
(2) a summary that compares the aggregate data |
|
|
collected under Subsection (a) for the district or school campus |
|
|
and for the state, region, and other campuses in the district or the |
|
|
geographic area served by the school; and |
|
|
(3) the Internet website link to the report under |
|
|
Subsection (b) on the agency's Internet website. |
|
|
(d) The commissioner shall adopt rules as necessary to |
|
|
implement this section, including rules to ensure compliance with |
|
|
the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (20 U.S.C. |
|
|
Section 1232g). |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 2023-2024 |
|
|
school year. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |