By Shields H.B. No. 2259
74R1728 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to discipline in public school classrooms.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 21.301(k) and (l), Education Code, are
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (k) A teacher may send a student to the principal's office
1-7 in order to maintain effective discipline in the classroom. The
1-8 principal shall respond by employing appropriate discipline
1-9 management techniques consistent with local policy except that
1-10 without the teacher's consent, the principal may not return the
1-11 student to that teacher's classroom before the expiration of a
1-12 six-week period beginning on the date the teacher sends the student
1-13 to the principal's office. Notwithstanding Subsection (b), if
1-14 there is not another appropriate classroom, based on grade level
1-15 and course, in which to place the student, the student may be
1-16 placed in an alternative education program for a six-week period.
1-17 (l) A teacher may remove from class a student who has been
1-18 documented by the teacher to repeatedly interfere with the
1-19 teacher's ability to communicate effectively with the students in
1-20 the class. The student may not return to that teacher's class
1-21 before the expiration of a six-week period beginning on the date
1-22 the teacher removes the student from class. Not later than the
1-23 third class day after the day on which the student is removed from
1-24 the class, the principal shall schedule a hearing among the
2-1 principal or the principal's designee, a parent or guardian of the
2-2 student, the teacher, and the student. Following the hearing, and
2-3 whether or not all requested parties are in attendance after valid
2-4 attempts to require their attendance, the principal shall:
2-5 (1) suspend the student <pupil> for a period
2-6 consistent with local policy, not to exceed six school days;
2-7 (2) <,>place the student in an alternative education
2-8 program; <,> or
2-9 (3) place the student <back> in another <the> class.
2-10 <If the student is removed a second time under this subsection
2-11 within the same semester, the student may be returned to that class
2-12 only by action of the superintendent at the principal's request.
2-13 If the student is removed a third or subsequent time under this
2-14 subsection within the same semester, the student may be returned to
2-15 that class only by action of the district's board of trustees at
2-16 the request of the superintendent.>
2-17 SECTION 2. Section 21.3011(f), Education Code, is amended to
2-18 read as follows:
2-19 (f) A teacher may remove from class and recommend for
2-20 expulsion a student who engages in conduct for which a student may
2-21 be expelled under Subsection (b) or (c) of this section. If a
2-22 teacher recommends a student for expulsion, the board or its
2-23 designee shall conduct a hearing under Subsection (e) of this
2-24 section. If the board or its designee decides not to expel the
2-25 student:
2-26 (1) the student may not be returned to the teacher's
2-27 class until the expiration of a six-week period beginning on the
3-1 date on which the teacher removes the student from class; and
3-2 (2) if the student is again recommended for expulsion
3-3 <by the teacher> during the same school year, the hearing under
3-4 Subsection (e) of this section may be conducted only by the board.
3-5 SECTION 3. This Act applies beginning with the 1995-1996
3-6 school year.
3-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-13 passage, and it is so enacted.