By Bailey                                       H.B. No. 2756

      75R8257 CAS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to school district procedures for terminating the

 1-3     employment of educational support employees.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 22, Education Code, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 22.006 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 22.006.  TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT OF EDUCATIONAL

 1-8     SUPPORT EMPLOYEE.  (a)  The board of trustees of each school

 1-9     district shall adopt a written procedure that complies with this

1-10     section and that must be followed before the district may terminate

1-11     the employment of an educational support employee.

1-12           (b)  A person who initiates a recommendation that the

1-13     employment of an educational support employee be terminated must

1-14     give written notice to the employee of that recommendation.  The

1-15     notice must contain a statement of the grounds for the proposed

1-16     termination and any other material facts related to the proposed

1-17     termination.  The superintendent of the district must review the

1-18     proposed termination.  If the superintendent agrees that the

1-19     proposed termination is warranted, the superintendent must give a

1-20     written recommendation of the proposed termination to the board of

1-21     trustees and written notification of that recommendation to the

1-22     employee.  The board must review the grounds for the proposed

1-23     termination, any other material facts, and the superintendent's

1-24     recommendation and may approve or disapprove the recommendation.

 2-1     If the board does not disapprove the recommendation, the board must

 2-2     give written notice of the board's intention to consider the

 2-3     proposed termination to the employee.

 2-4           (c)  If an educational support employee desires to contest a

 2-5     proposed termination of employment, the employee must give a

 2-6     written request for a hearing to the board of trustees not later

 2-7     than the 10th day after the date the employee receives notice from

 2-8     the board of the board's intention to consider the proposed

 2-9     termination.  The board shall provide for a hearing to be held not

2-10     later than the 15th day after the date the board receives the

2-11     request for a hearing unless the parties agree in writing to a

2-12     different date.  Within a reasonable time before the hearing, the

2-13     board must provide to the employee a list of the names of each

2-14     witness that may be called by the district at the hearing and

2-15     access to each relevant document or other item of physical

2-16     evidence.

2-17           (d)  At the hearing, the educational support employee is

2-18     entitled to present and cross-examine witnesses and to offer

2-19     evidence.

2-20           (e)  Not later than the 15th day after the date of the

2-21     hearing, the board of trustees must make a decision and notify the

2-22     educational support employee.  The board may decide to approve the

2-23     termination of the employee's employment only for good cause.

2-24           (f)  The educational support employee may appeal the decision

2-25     of the board of trustees to terminate the employee's employment by

2-26     filing an appeal with the commissioner not later than the 20th day

2-27     after the date the board's decision is announced.  The board must

 3-1     file an answer with and provide the official record of the district

 3-2     proceeding to the commissioner not later than the 30th day after

 3-3     the date the board receives written notice of the appeal.  The

 3-4     standard of review by the commissioner is the same as that

 3-5     prescribed for an appeal by a teacher under Section 21.303(a).

 3-6     The commissioner must issue a written decision not later than the

 3-7     90th day after the date the appeal is filed with the commissioner.

 3-8           (g)  The educational support employee may appeal the

 3-9     commissioner's decision to  the district court in the county in

3-10     which the district's central administrative office is located, or

3-11     by agreement with the school district, to a district court in

3-12     Travis County, in accordance with requirements for an appeal by a

3-13     teacher under Section 21.307.

3-14           (h)  This section does not deprive an educational support

3-15     employee of any right or procedure to which the employee is

3-16     entitled under any policy adopted by the board of trustees.

3-17           (i)  In this section:

3-18                 (1)  "Educational support employee" means a full-time

3-19     or part-time school district employee other than a "teacher" as

3-20     defined under Section 21.201.

3-21                 (2)  "Superintendent" includes  a designee of a

3-22     superintendent.

3-23           SECTION 2.  This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998

3-24     school year.

3-25           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

3-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

3-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 4-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 4-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 4-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 4-4     passage, and it is so enacted.