1-1 By: Harris S.B. No. 1154
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 1997; March 17, 1997, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Education; April 7, 1997,
1-4 reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
1-5 following vote: Yeas 11, Nays 0; April 7, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1154 By: Bivins
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to adopting and amending a student code of conduct in
1-10 public schools.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 37.001, Education Code, is amended to
1-13 read as follows:
1-14 Sec. 37.001. Student Code of Conduct. (a) The board of
1-15 trustees of an independent [Each] school district shall, with the
1-16 advice of its district-level committee established under Section
1-17 11.251, and jointly, as appropriate, with the juvenile board of
1-18 each county in which the district is located, adopt a student code
1-19 of conduct for the district. In addition to establishing standards
1-20 for student conduct, the student code of conduct must:
1-21 (1) specify the circumstances, in accordance with this
1-22 subchapter, under which a student may be removed from a classroom,
1-23 campus, or alternative education program;
1-24 (2) outline the responsibilities of each juvenile
1-25 board concerning the establishment and operation of a juvenile
1-26 justice alternative education program under Section 37.011;
1-27 (3) define the conditions on payments from the
1-28 district to each juvenile board;
1-29 (4) specify conditions that authorize or require a
1-30 principal or other appropriate administrator to transfer a student
1-31 to an alternative education program; and
1-32 (5) outline conditions under which a student may be
1-33 suspended as provided by Section 37.005 or expelled as provided by
1-34 Section 37.007.
1-35 (b) A teacher with knowledge that a student has violated the
1-36 student code of conduct shall file with the school principal or the
1-37 other appropriate administrator a written report, not to exceed one
1-38 page, documenting the violation. The principal or the other
1-39 appropriate administrator shall, not later than 24 hours after
1-40 receipt of a report from a teacher, send a copy of the report to
1-41 the student's parents or guardians.
1-42 (c) Once the student code of conduct is promulgated, any
1-43 change or amendment must be approved by the board of trustees or
1-44 the superintendent, provided that the board has authorized the
1-45 superintendent to do so.
1-46 (d) Each school district shall adopt a student code of
1-47 conduct as required by this section not later than September 1,
1-48 1996. This subsection expires September 1, 1997.
1-49 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-50 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-51 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-52 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-53 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-54 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-55 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-56 * * * * *