By:  Barrientos                                        S.B. No. 712
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the rights of teachers in public schools.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 13, Education Code, is
    1-4  amended by adding Section 13.219 to read as follows:
    1-5        Sec. 13.219.  BILL OF RIGHTS FOR TEACHERS.  (a)  It is
    1-6  declared to be the public policy of the State of Texas that
    1-7  teachers, whose work is vital to the success of education, shall be
    1-8  entitled to dignity and respect equal to the high standards of
    1-9  service justly demanded of them.  The State of Texas recognizes
   1-10  that the children of the state deserve an education of the highest
   1-11  quality, and it is declared to be the public policy of the State of
   1-12  Texas that teachers shall be assisted in providing such an
   1-13  education to children.  The provisions of this section shall be
   1-14  liberally construed in order to carry out the above declarations of
   1-15  public policy.
   1-16        (b)  Teachers in Texas' public schools shall be:
   1-17              (1)  treated with dignity and respect in all aspects of
   1-18  their professional lives;
   1-19              (2)  treated as an equal partner in the decision-making
   1-20  processes involved in the instruction of children;
   1-21              (3)  guaranteed academic freedom in the study,
   1-22  investigation, presentation, and interpretation of facts and ideas;
   1-23              (4)  freed from noninstructional paperwork;
    2-1              (5)  entitled to full administrative support in all
    2-2  matters involving student discipline;
    2-3              (6)  entitled to clean, well-maintained working
    2-4  facilities;
    2-5              (7)  provided all materials and supplies necessary for
    2-6  instruction;
    2-7              (8)  guaranteed a work environment free of threats to
    2-8  themselves and their property;
    2-9              (9)  guaranteed due process in all matters affecting
   2-10  their employment;
   2-11              (10)  protected from public reprimand or public
   2-12  disciplinary action; and
   2-13              (11)  paid a salary that will afford a family a
   2-14  standard of living comparable to that of other professions.
   2-15        SECTION 2.  Section 13.218, Education Code, is repealed.
   2-16        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-17  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-18  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-19  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-20  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-21  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-22  passage, and it is so enacted.