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House Bill 359 |
House Author: Allen et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
Senate Sponsor: Lucio |
House Bill 359 amends the Education Code to authorize a public school educator, if the school district's board of trustees adopts a policy under which corporal punishment is permitted as a method of student discipline, to use corporal punishment to discipline a student 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. Such a statement must be provided annually in the manner established by the board and may be revoked at any time by such person by means of a written, signed revocation submitted to the board of trustees.
House Bill 359 makes restrictions on the use of confinement, restraint, and seclusion of students as a discipline management practice or a behavior management technique applicable to a peace officer who is employed or commissioned by a school district or provides, as a school resource officer, a regular police presence on a school district campus under a memorandum of understanding between the district and a local law enforcement agency and requires a school district to report electronically to the Texas Education Agency, in accordance with commissioner of education rule, on the use of restraint by a peace officer performing law enforcement duties on school property or during a school-sponsored or school-related activity.
House Bill 359 excepts a student in the sixth grade or a lower grade level from the application of provisions making it a Class C misdemeanor to disrupt a class or to disrupt the transportation of students and amends the Penal Code to provide a similar exception for a student at those grade levels from the application of provisions making it a Class C misdemeanor to engage in certain behavior that constitutes the offense of disorderly conduct.