By De La Garza H.B. No. 643
74R3392 KKA-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to student discipline and certain offenses against school
1-3 employees.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 21.3011, Education Code, is amended to
1-6 read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 21.3011. Expulsion of Students. (a) In this section:
1-8 (1) "Assaultive offense" means any act considered an
1-9 offense under Chapter 22, Penal Code.
1-10 (2) "Expulsion"<, "expulsion"> means suspension of a
1-11 student from school for more than six school days within a
1-12 semester. The term does not include removal of a student to an
1-13 alternative education program.
1-14 (b) A student may be removed from class and expelled without
1-15 resort to an alternative education program under Section 21.301 of
1-16 this code if the student, on school property or while attending a
1-17 school-sponsored or school-related activity on or off of school
1-18 property:
1-19 (1) commits an assaultive offense against <assaults> a
1-20 teacher or other individual;
1-21 (2) sells, gives, or delivers to another person or
1-22 possesses or uses or is under the influence of:
1-23 (A) marihuana or a controlled substance, as
1-24 defined by Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, or by 21 U.S.C.
2-1 Section 801 et seq.; or
2-2 (B) a dangerous drug, as defined by Chapter 483,
2-3 Health and Safety Code;
2-4 (3) sells, gives, or delivers to another person an
2-5 alcoholic beverage, as defined by Section 1.04, Alcoholic Beverage
2-6 Code, or commits a serious act or offense while under the influence
2-7 of alcohol; or on more than one occasion possesses, uses, or is
2-8 under the influence of an alcoholic beverage;
2-9 (4) possesses a firearm as defined by Section
2-10 46.01(3), Penal Code, an illegal knife as defined by Section
2-11 46.01(6), Penal Code, a club as defined by Section 46.01(1), Penal
2-12 Code, or a weapon listed as a prohibited weapon under Section 46.05
2-13 <46.06>, Penal Code;
2-14 (5) engages in conduct that contains the elements of
2-15 an offense relating to abusable glue or aerosol paint under
2-16 Sections 485.031 through 485.035, Health and Safety Code, or
2-17 relating to volatile chemicals under Chapter 484, Health and Safety
2-18 Code;
2-19 (6) engages in conduct that contains the elements of
2-20 the offense of arson under Section 28.02, Penal Code;
2-21 (7) engages in conduct that contains the elements of
2-22 the offense of criminal mischief under Section 28.03, Penal Code,
2-23 if the offense is punishable as a felony under that section; or
2-24 (8) engages in conduct that contains the elements of
2-25 the offense of public lewdness under Section 21.07, Penal Code.
2-26 (c) A student may be removed from class and expelled without
2-27 resort to an alternative education program under Section 21.301 if
3-1 the student commits an assaultive offense against a teacher or
3-2 other school employee:
3-3 (1) while the teacher or other employee is performing
3-4 job-related duties; or
3-5 (2) in retaliation for or on account of the
3-6 performance of job-related duties by the teacher or other employee.
3-7 (d) <(c)> A student who, after having been placed in an
3-8 alternative education program under Section 21.301 of this code,
3-9 continues to engage in serious or persistent misbehavior that
3-10 violates the district's previously communicated written standards
3-11 of student conduct may be removed from class and expelled.
3-12 (e) <(d)> The board or its designee shall set a term for the
3-13 expulsion.
3-14 (1) The expulsion may not extend beyond the end of the
3-15 school year unless the conduct directly leading to the expulsion
3-16 occurred during the final six-week reporting period of the school
3-17 year, in which case the expulsion may extend beyond the end of the
3-18 current school year but not beyond the end of the first semester of
3-19 the next school year.
3-20 (2) A student <pupil> who is to be expelled for the
3-21 first time for possession, use, or for being under the influence of
3-22 an alcoholic beverage as defined in this section may not be
3-23 expelled beyond the end of the semester, unless the conduct
3-24 directly leading to the expulsion occurred during the final
3-25 six-week reporting period of a semester, which may result in
3-26 expulsion not to extend beyond the end of the next regular
3-27 semester.
4-1 (f) <(e)> Before the expulsion, the board or its designee
4-2 must provide the student a hearing at which the student is afforded
4-3 appropriate due process as required by the federal constitution.
4-4 If the decision to expel a student is made by the board's designee,
4-5 the decision may be appealed to the board. The decision of the
4-6 board may be appealed by trial de novo to a state district court of
4-7 the county in which the school district's central administrative
4-8 office is located.
4-9 (g) <(f)> A teacher may remove from class and recommend for
4-10 expulsion or may recommend for suspension or removal to an
4-11 alternative education program a student who engages in conduct for
4-12 which a student may be expelled under Subsection (b), <or> (c), or
4-13 (d) of this section. If a teacher recommends a student for
4-14 expulsion, suspension, or removal to an alternative education
4-15 program under this section, the board or its designee shall conduct
4-16 a hearing under Subsection (f) <(e)> of this section. If the
4-17 teacher has recommended the student for expulsion and the board or
4-18 its designee decides not to expel the student and the student is
4-19 again recommended for expulsion by the teacher during the same
4-20 school year, the hearing under Subsection (f) <(e)> of this section
4-21 may be conducted only by the board. If the teacher has recommended
4-22 a student for suspension or removal to an alternative education
4-23 program under this section and, at a later time during the same
4-24 school year, the teacher recommends the student for expulsion, the
4-25 teacher is entitled to decide whether the board or the board's
4-26 designee conducts the expulsion hearing.
4-27 (h) <(g)> The board or its designee shall deliver a copy of
5-1 the order expelling the student to the student and the student's
5-2 parent or guardian. The board or its designee shall also deliver a
5-3 copy of the order to the authorized officer of the juvenile court
5-4 in the county in which the student resides. The officer shall
5-5 determine whether:
5-6 (1) a petition should be filed alleging that the
5-7 student is in need of supervision or engaged in delinquent conduct;
5-8 or
5-9 (2) the student should be referred to an appropriate
5-10 state agency.
5-11 (i) <(h)> A school district may provide home-based
5-12 instruction to students expelled under this section.
5-13 (j) <(i)> Each school district shall provide each teacher
5-14 and administrator with a copy of Section 21.301 and this section of
5-15 this code and with a copy of the local policies relating to the
5-16 sections.
5-17 (k) <(j)> If a court orders a student who has been expelled
5-18 to attend school as a condition of probation, the school district
5-19 shall readmit the student, but the student is not immune from
5-20 suspension, removal to an alternative education program, or
5-21 expulsion during the term of the probation. If a student is
5-22 expelled under this section, the school district retains the
5-23 authority to place the student in the appropriate educational
5-24 setting.
5-25 (l) <(k)> Each school district shall reasonably cooperate
5-26 with governmental agencies and community organizations providing
5-27 services within the district to students expelled under this
6-1 section.
6-2 (m) <(l)> A rehabilitation district that admits delinquent
6-3 children with disabilities shall admit a child referred by a
6-4 juvenile court located in the district if the ARD committee of the
6-5 district has determined that the district has sufficient facilities
6-6 and personnel available.
6-7 (n) <(m)> If the student enrolls in another school district
6-8 before the expiration of the period of expulsion, the board shall
6-9 provide to the district in which the student enrolls, at the same
6-10 time other of the student's records are provided, a copy of the
6-11 order. The district in which the student enrolls may continue the
6-12 expulsion under the terms of the order or, if the student produces
6-13 evidence, to the satisfaction of the district, of remediation for
6-14 the conduct for which the student was expelled and the conduct was
6-15 not an assaultive offense, the district may allow the student to
6-16 attend classes without completing the period of expulsion.
6-17 SECTION 2. This Act applies beginning with the 1995-1996
6-18 school year.
6-19 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
6-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-25 passage, and it is so enacted.