By Dutton H.B. No. 2885
75R9088 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to discipline of public school students.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 37.001(a), Education Code, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 (a) Each school district shall, with the advice of its
1-7 district-level committee established under Section 11.251, and
1-8 jointly, as appropriate, with the juvenile board of each county in
1-9 which the district is located, adopt a student code of conduct for
1-10 the district. In addition to establishing standards for student
1-11 conduct, the student code of conduct must:
1-12 (1) specify the circumstances, in accordance with this
1-13 subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom,
1-14 campus, or alternative education program;
1-15 (2) outline the responsibilities of each juvenile
1-16 board concerning the establishment and operation of a juvenile
1-17 justice alternative education program under Section 37.011;
1-18 (3) define the conditions on payments from the
1-19 district to each juvenile board;
1-20 (4) specify conditions that authorize or require a
1-21 principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student
1-22 to an alternative education program; [and]
1-23 (5) outline conditions under which a student may be
1-24 suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by
2-1 Section 37.007; and
2-2 (6) define serious or persistent misbehavior for
2-3 purposes of Section 37.007(b).
2-4 SECTION 2. Section 37.002, Education Code, is amended by
2-5 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
2-6 (e) When a student is removed from class under this section,
2-7 the principal or principal's designee shall afford the student
2-8 appropriate due process as required by the federal constitution.
2-9 SECTION 3. Section 37.003(a), Education Code, is amended to
2-10 read as follows:
2-11 (a) Each school shall establish a five-member [three-member]
2-12 committee to determine placement of a student when a teacher
2-13 refuses the return of a student to the teacher's class and make
2-14 recommendations to the district regarding readmission of expelled
2-15 students. Members shall be appointed as follows:
2-16 (1) the campus faculty shall choose three [two]
2-17 teachers to serve as members and one teacher to serve as an
2-18 alternate member; and
2-19 (2) the principal shall choose two members [one
2-20 member] from the professional staff of a campus.
2-21 SECTION 4. Section 37.006, Education Code, is amended by
2-22 adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
2-23 (d) When a student is removed from class under this section,
2-24 the principal or principal's designee shall afford the student
2-25 appropriate due process as required by the federal constitution.
2-26 SECTION 5. Section 37.007(b), Education Code, is amended to
2-27 read as follows:
3-1 (b) A student may be expelled if the student, after being
3-2 placed in an alternative education program for disciplinary
3-3 reasons, continues to engage in serious or persistent misbehavior
3-4 that violates the district's student code of conduct. Before the
3-5 student may be expelled, the student's parent, guardian, or other
3-6 person having legal control of the child under a court order must
3-7 be given written notice of the proposed expulsion and of the
3-8 behavior on which the proposed expulsion is based.
3-9 SECTION 6. Section 37.008(a), Education Code, is amended to
3-10 read as follows:
3-11 (a) Each school district shall provide an alternative
3-12 education program that:
3-13 (1) is provided in a setting other than a student's
3-14 regular classroom;
3-15 (2) is located on or off of a regular school campus;
3-16 (3) provides for the students who are assigned to the
3-17 alternative education program to be separated from students who are
3-18 not assigned to the program;
3-19 (4) focuses on English language arts, mathematics,
3-20 science, history, and self-discipline and, in the case of high
3-21 school students, on courses required for graduation from high
3-22 school;
3-23 (5) provides for students' educational and behavioral
3-24 needs; and
3-25 (6) provides supervision and counseling by educators
3-26 with experience in working in an alternative education setting.
3-27 SECTION 7. Section 37.009(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-1 read as follows:
4-2 (a) Not later than the third class day after the day on
4-3 which a student is removed from class under Section 37.002(b) or
4-4 (d), the school principal shall schedule a hearing among the
4-5 principal or the principal's designee, a parent or guardian of the
4-6 student, the teacher removing the student from class, and the
4-7 student. A student removed from class under Section 37.002(b)
4-8 shall be specifically informed that the student's behavior could
4-9 result in placement in an alternative education program. The
4-10 student may not be returned to the regular classroom pending the
4-11 hearing. Following the hearing, and whether or not each requested
4-12 person is in attendance after valid attempts to require the
4-13 person's attendance, the principal shall order the placement of the
4-14 student as provided by Section 37.002 for a period consistent with
4-15 the student code of conduct.
4-16 SECTION 8. Section 37.011(d), Education Code, is amended to
4-17 read as follows:
4-18 (d) A juvenile justice alternative education program must
4-19 focus on English language arts, mathematics, science, history, and
4-20 self-discipline and, in the case of high school students, on
4-21 courses required for graduation from high school. Each program
4-22 shall administer assessment instruments under Subchapter B, Chapter
4-23 39, and shall offer a high school equivalency program.
4-24 SECTION 9. Section 37.012(a), Education Code, is amended to
4-25 read as follows:
4-26 (a) The school district in which a student is enrolled on
4-27 the date a juvenile court orders the student to attend a juvenile
5-1 justice alternative education program shall transfer to the
5-2 juvenile board in charge of the juvenile justice alternative
5-3 education program for the portion of the school year for which the
5-4 juvenile justice alternative education program provides educational
5-5 services funds equal to the district's average per student
5-6 expenditure in alternative education programs under Section 37.008.
5-7 The commissioner, in consultation with representatives of juvenile
5-8 boards responsible for juvenile justice alternative education
5-9 programs, shall adopt rules to implement this subsection.
5-10 SECTION 10. Section 37.013, Education Code, is amended to
5-11 read as follows:
5-12 Sec. 37.013. COORDINATION BETWEEN SCHOOL DISTRICTS AND
5-13 JUVENILE BOARDS. The board of trustees of the school district or
5-14 the board's designee shall at the call of the president of the
5-15 board of trustees regularly meet with the juvenile board for the
5-16 county in which the district's central administrative office is
5-17 located or the juvenile board's designee concerning supervision and
5-18 rehabilitative services appropriate for expelled students and
5-19 students assigned to alternative education programs. Matters for
5-20 discussion shall include service by probation officers at the
5-21 alternative education program site, recruitment of volunteers to
5-22 serve as mentors and provide tutoring services, and coordination
5-23 with other social service agencies. The board of trustees and the
5-24 juvenile board may adopt a memorandum of understanding to implement
5-25 the purposes of this section.
5-26 SECTION 11. Section 37.015(a), Education Code, is amended to
5-27 read as follows:
6-1 (a) The principal of a public or private primary or
6-2 secondary school, or a person designated by the principal under
6-3 Subsection (d), shall notify any school district police department
6-4 and the police department of the municipality in which the school
6-5 is located or, if the school is not in a municipality, the sheriff
6-6 of the county in which the school is located if the principal has
6-7 reasonable grounds to believe that any of the following activities
6-8 occur in school, on school property, or at a school-sponsored or
6-9 school-related activity on or off school property, whether or not
6-10 the activity is investigated by school security officers:
6-11 (1) conduct that may constitute an offense listed
6-12 under Section 8(c), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure;
6-13 (2) deadly conduct under Section 22.05, Penal Code;
6-14 (3) a terroristic threat under Section 22.07, Penal
6-15 Code;
6-16 (4) the use, sale, or possession of a controlled
6-17 substance, drug paraphernalia, or marihuana under Chapter 481,
6-18 Health and Safety Code;
6-19 (5) the possession of any of the weapons or devices
6-20 listed under Sections 46.01(1)-(14) or Section 46.01(16), Penal
6-21 Code; [or]
6-22 (6) conduct that may constitute a criminal offense
6-23 under Section 71.02, Penal Code; or
6-24 (7) conduct that may contain the elements of the
6-25 offense of retaliation under Section 36.06, Penal Code.
6-26 SECTION 12. Section 37.018, Education Code, is amended to
6-27 read as follows:
7-1 Sec. 37.018. INFORMATION FOR EDUCATORS. Each school
7-2 district shall provide each teacher and administrator with a copy
7-3 of this subchapter and with a copy of the local policy relating to
7-4 this subchapter, including the student code of conduct for the
7-5 district.
7-6 SECTION 13. Section 37.019(a), Education Code, is amended to
7-7 read as follows:
7-8 (a) This subchapter does not prevent the principal or the
7-9 principal's designee from ordering the immediate placement of a
7-10 student in the alternative program under Section 37.008 if the
7-11 principal or the principal's designee reasonably believes the
7-12 student's behavior is so unruly, disruptive, or abusive that it
7-13 seriously interferes with a teacher's ability to communicate
7-14 effectively with the students in a class, with the ability of the
7-15 student's classmates to learn, or with the operation of school or a
7-16 school-sponsored activity.
7-17 SECTION 14. Section 37.010(b), Education Code, is repealed.
7-18 SECTION 15. This Act applies beginning with the 1997-1998
7-19 school year.
7-20 SECTION 16. The importance of this legislation and the
7-21 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-22 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-23 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-24 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-25 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-26 passage, and it is so enacted.