Enrolled Bill Summary

            Senate Bill 133 amends the Education Code to clarify certain issues arising from the implementation of Chapter 37 in 1995, which provided for the removal of students from the classroom and their placement in alternative education programs (AEPs) or their expulsion from school for disruptive or criminal behavior.

            The state's compulsory school attendance law previously did not apply to students expelled from school; Senate Bill 133 amends the law to limit that exemption to students expelled from school in districts that do not participate in a juvenile justice alternative education program (JJAEP).

            The act clarifies the situations that allow placement of a student in an AEP and those where placement is required. It adds felony conduct to the list of causes requiring a student's removal from class and placement in an AEP; it extends to within 300 feet of school property the boundaries within which engaging in any such conduct results in such placement; and it requires a student's removal from class and placement in an AEP for conduct that occurs off campus and not in connection with school-sponsored or school-related activities if the student receives deferred prosecution for conduct defined as a felony offense or is found guilty of delinquent or felony conduct or district officials reasonably believe that the student engaged in certain felony conduct. The act allows a student's removal from class and placement in an AEP if district officials reasonably believe the student engaged in felony conduct other than that requiring automatic removal and placement or if the presence of the student in the classroom threatens the safety of other students or is detrimental to their learning. The act also includes provisions concerning notice, hearings on, and appeal of a child's removal from classes.

            Senate Bill 133 also allows the expulsion of a student from school for selling, delivering, possessing, or using drugs, alcohol, or other abusable substances. The district or other local educational agency must provide educational services in an AEP to an expelled student 10 years of age or younger and may provide such services to an expelled student older than 10 years of age. The act includes provisions about performance standards and accountability in AEPs and JJAEPs and about responsibilities of juvenile boards in counties of more than 125,000 people.

            The act prohibits school districts from readmitting a student who was expelled from school for certain offenses after the student successfully completes any court-imposed requirement, including conditions of a deferred prosecution ordered by the court or required by the prosecutor or probation department, but the school may place such student in an AEP. If an expelled student enrolls in another district, that district may continue the expulsion under the terms of a court order, place the student in an AEP for the period of the expulsion, or allow the student into a regular classroom.

            Senate Bill 133 takes effect beginning with the 1997-1998 school year.