By Turner of Harris                             H.B. No. 2121

      75R7811 CAS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to procedures required before a public school student may

 1-3     be placed in an alternative education program, expelled, or placed

 1-4     in a juvenile justice alternative education program under certain

 1-5     circumstances.

 1-6           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-7           SECTION 1.  Section 37.002(c), Education Code, is amended to

 1-8     read as follows:

 1-9           (c)  If a teacher removes a student from class under

1-10     Subsection (b), the principal may place the student into another

1-11     appropriate classroom, into in-school suspension, or into an

1-12     alternative education program as provided by Section 37.008.

1-13     Before the principal may place the student into an alternative

1-14     education program, the principal must give written notice of the

1-15     removal and of the behavior on which the removal is based to the

1-16     student's parent, guardian, or other person having legal control of

1-17     the child under a court order.  The principal may not return the

1-18     student to that teacher's class without the teacher's consent

1-19     unless the committee established under Section 37.003 determines

1-20     that such placement is the best or only alternative available.  The

1-21     terms of the removal may prohibit the student from attending or

1-22     participating in school-sponsored or school-related activity.

1-23           SECTION 2.  Section 37.007(b), Education Code, is amended to

1-24     read as follows:

 2-1           (b)  A student may be expelled if the student, after being

 2-2     placed in an alternative education program for disciplinary

 2-3     reasons, continues to engage in serious or persistent misbehavior

 2-4     that violates the district's student code of conduct.  Before the

 2-5     student may be expelled, the student's parent, guardian, or other

 2-6     person having legal control of the child under a court order must

 2-7     be given written notice of the proposed expulsion and of the

 2-8     behavior on which the proposed expulsion is based.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  Sections 37.009(a) and (f), Education Code, are

2-10     amended to read as follows:

2-11           (a)  Not later than the third class day after the day on

2-12     which a student is removed from class under Section 37.002(b) or

2-13     (d), the school principal shall schedule a hearing among the

2-14     principal or the principal's designee, a parent or guardian of the

2-15     student, the teacher removing the student from class, and the

2-16     student.  If the student is removed from class under Section

2-17     37.007(b), the student shall be specifically informed that the

2-18     student's behavior could result in placement in an alternative

2-19     education program and shall be provided an explanation of the

2-20     differences between the curriculum of the regular education program

2-21     and an alternative education program.  The student may not be

2-22     returned to the regular classroom pending the hearing.  Following

2-23     the hearing, and whether or not each requested person is in

2-24     attendance after valid attempts to require the person's attendance,

2-25     the principal shall order the placement of the student as provided

2-26     by Section 37.002 for a period consistent with the student code of

2-27     conduct.

 3-1           (f)  Before a student may be expelled under Section 37.007,

 3-2     the board or the board's designee must provide the student a

 3-3     hearing at which the student is afforded appropriate due process as

 3-4     required by the federal constitution and which the student's parent

 3-5     or guardian is invited, in writing, to attend.  At the hearing, the

 3-6     student must be represented by the student's parent or guardian or

 3-7     another adult who can provide guidance to the student and who is

 3-8     not an employee of the school district.  If the hearing is a result

 3-9     of the student's behavior under Section 37.007(b), the student's

3-10     teacher and the principal at the alternative education program

3-11     shall also attend, and the student shall be specifically informed

3-12     that the student's behavior could result in expulsion or placement

3-13     in a juvenile justice alternative education program, as applicable,

3-14     and shall be provided an explanation of the differences between the

3-15     curriculum of the alternative education program and a juvenile

3-16     justice alternative education program.  If the decision to expel a

3-17     student is made by the board's designee, the decision may be

3-18     appealed to the board.  The decision of the board may be appealed

3-19     by trial de novo to a district court of the county in which the

3-20     school district's central administrative office is located.

3-21           SECTION 4.  This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998

3-22     school year.

3-23           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

3-26     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

3-27     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 4-1     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 4-2     passage, and it is so enacted.