By Tillery H.B. No. 505
76R3021 CAS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to appeal procedures concerning certain public school
1-3 disciplinary matters.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 37.003, Education Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c) and (d) to read
1-7 as follows:
1-8 (a) Each school shall establish a [three-member] committee
1-9 to determine placement of a student when a teacher refuses the
1-10 return of a student to the teacher's class, hear appeals under
1-11 Section 37.009, and make recommendations to the district regarding
1-12 readmission of expelled students. Members shall be appointed as
1-13 follows:
1-14 (1) the campus faculty shall choose two teachers to
1-15 serve as members and one teacher to serve as an alternate member;
1-16 and
1-17 (2) the principal shall choose:
1-18 (A) one member from the professional staff of a
1-19 campus; and
1-20 (B) two additional members, each of whom is the
1-21 parent of a student enrolled in the school, and one parent to serve
1-22 as an alternate member.
1-23 (c) Each member of the committee must have at least three
1-24 hours of dispute resolution training from a regional education
2-1 service center in accordance with school policy.
2-2 (d) In this section, "parent" includes a guardian.
2-3 SECTION 2. Section 37.009, Education Code, is amended to
2-4 read as follows:
2-5 Sec. 37.009. CONFERENCE; HEARING; REVIEW. (a) Not
2-6 later than the third class day after the day on which a student is
2-7 removed from class by the teacher under Section 37.002(b) or (d) or
2-8 by the school principal or other appropriate administrator under
2-9 Section 37.006, the principal or other appropriate administrator
2-10 shall schedule an informal [a] conference among the principal or
2-11 other appropriate administrator, a parent or guardian of the
2-12 student, the teacher removing the student from class, if any, and
2-13 the student. At the conference, the student is entitled to written
2-14 or oral notice of the reasons for the removal, an explanation of
2-15 the basis for the removal, and an opportunity to respond to the
2-16 reasons for the removal. The student may not be returned to the
2-17 regular classroom pending the conference. Following the
2-18 conference, and whether or not each requested person is in
2-19 attendance after valid attempts to require the person's attendance,
2-20 the principal shall order the placement of the student as provided
2-21 by Section 37.002 or 37.006, as applicable, for a period consistent
2-22 with the student code of conduct.
2-23 (b) The student's parent or guardian is entitled to notice
2-24 of an opportunity to appeal the principal's decision under
2-25 Subsection (a) to the placement review committee established under
2-26 Section 37.003. The parent or guardian must file the appeal in the
2-27 manner required by school policy. In response to an appeal, the
3-1 placement review committee shall hold a formal hearing not later
3-2 than the third class day after the day of the conference under
3-3 Subsection (a). The parent or guardian of the student, the teacher
3-4 removing the student from class, if any, the student, and each
3-5 witness to the student's behavior or the incident, if any, are
3-6 entitled to address the placement review committee. The student
3-7 may not be returned to the regular classroom pending the hearing.
3-8 The placement review committee shall give the parent or guardian
3-9 an oral and written statement of the committee's decision regarding
3-10 the student's placement. The decision of the committee is final
3-11 and may not be appealed unless the committee places the student in
3-12 an alternative education program for a period longer than 30 days.
3-13 (c) If a student's placement in an alternative education
3-14 program under Subsection (b) is to be for a period longer than 30
3-15 days [extend beyond the end of the next grading period], the [a]
3-16 student's parent or guardian is entitled to notice of [and] an
3-17 opportunity to participate in a proceeding before the board of
3-18 trustees of the school district or the board's designee, as
3-19 provided by policy of the board of trustees of the district. The
3-20 parent or guardian must file the appeal in the manner required by
3-21 board policy. The board or the board's designee shall hold the
3-22 proceeding not later than the fifth class day after the day the
3-23 parent or guardian requests the proceeding. The board or the
3-24 board's designee shall give the parent or guardian an oral and
3-25 written statement of the board's or designee's decision regarding
3-26 the student's placement. Any decision of the board or the board's
3-27 designee under this subsection is final and may not be appealed
4-1 unless the board or the board's designee places the student in an
4-2 alternative education program for a period longer than 90 days.
4-3 (d) If a student's placement in an alternative education
4-4 program under Subsection (c) is to be for a period longer than 90
4-5 days, the student's parent or guardian is entitled to notice of an
4-6 opportunity to participate in a proceeding before the commissioner.
4-7 The commissioner shall adopt an appeals procedure for purposes of
4-8 this subsection. The parent or guardian must request the appeal in
4-9 writing not later that the 10th day after the day of the board's or
4-10 designee's decision. The commissioner shall respond to the appeal
4-11 in writing not later than the 30th day after the day of the
4-12 proceeding. The commissioner's decision regarding the student's
4-13 placement is final and may not be appealed.
4-14 (e) [(c)] Before [it may place] a student may be placed in
4-15 an alternative education program for a period that extends beyond
4-16 the end of the school year, it must be determined [the board or the
4-17 board's designee must determine] that:
4-18 (1) the student's presence in the regular classroom
4-19 program or at the student's regular campus presents a danger of
4-20 physical harm to the student or to another individual; or
4-21 (2) the student has engaged in serious or persistent
4-22 misbehavior that violates the district's student code of conduct.
4-23 (f) [(d)] The official or body hearing an appeal under
4-24 Subsection (b), (c), or (d) [board or the board's designee] shall
4-25 set a term for a student's placement in an alternative education
4-26 program under Section 37.002 or 37.006.
4-27 (g) [(e)] A student placed in an alternative education
5-1 program under Section 37.002 or 37.006 shall be provided a review
5-2 of the student's status, including a review of the student's
5-3 academic status, by the board's designee at intervals not to exceed
5-4 120 days. In the case of a high school student, the board's
5-5 designee, with the student's parent or guardian, shall review the
5-6 student's progress towards meeting high school graduation
5-7 requirements and shall establish a specific graduation plan for the
5-8 student. The district is not required under this subsection to
5-9 provide in the district's alternative education program a course
5-10 not specified under Section 37.008(a). At the review, the student
5-11 or the student's parent or guardian must be given the opportunity
5-12 to present arguments for the student's return to the regular
5-13 classroom or campus. The student may not be returned to the
5-14 classroom of the teacher who removed the student without that
5-15 teacher's consent. The teacher may not be coerced to consent.
5-16 (h) [(f)] Before a student may be expelled under Section
5-17 37.007, the board or the board's designee must provide the student
5-18 a hearing at which the student is afforded appropriate due process
5-19 as required by the federal constitution and which the student's
5-20 parent or guardian is invited, in writing, to attend. At the
5-21 hearing, the student is entitled to be represented by the student's
5-22 parent or guardian or another adult who can provide guidance to the
5-23 student and who is not an employee of the school district. If the
5-24 school district makes a good-faith effort to inform the student and
5-25 the student's parent or guardian of the time and place of the
5-26 hearing, the district may hold the hearing regardless of whether
5-27 the student, the student's parent or guardian, or another adult
6-1 representing the student attends. If the decision to expel a
6-2 student is made by the board's designee, the decision may be
6-3 appealed to the board. The decision of the board may be appealed
6-4 by trial de novo to a district court of the county in which the
6-5 school district's central administrative office is located.
6-6 (i) [(g)] The board or the board's designee shall deliver to
6-7 the student and the student's parent or guardian a copy of the
6-8 order [placing the student in an alternative education program
6-9 under Section 37.002 or 37.006 or] expelling the student under
6-10 Section 37.007.
6-11 (j) [(h)] After a school district notifies the parents or
6-12 guardians of a student that the student has been expelled, the
6-13 parent or guardian shall provide adequate supervision of the
6-14 student during the period of expulsion.
6-15 SECTION 3. Section 37.010(a), Education Code, is amended to
6-16 read as follows:
6-17 (a) Not later than the second business day after the date a
6-18 conference or hearing is held under Section 37.009, the board of
6-19 trustees of a school district or the board's designee shall deliver
6-20 a copy of the order placing a student in an alternative education
6-21 program under Section 37.006 or expelling a student under Section
6-22 37.007 and any information required under Section 52.04, Family
6-23 Code, to the authorized officer of the juvenile court in the county
6-24 in which the student resides. If due to an appeal under Section
6-25 37.009(b), (c), or (d) there is a modification in the student's
6-26 placement in an alternative education program, not later than the
6-27 second business day after the date of the decision modifying
7-1 placement the board of trustees or the board's designee shall
7-2 deliver a copy of the modified order to the authorized officer of
7-3 the juvenile court. In a county that operates a program under
7-4 Section 37.011, an expelled student shall to the extent provided by
7-5 law or by the memorandum of understanding immediately attend the
7-6 educational program from the date of expulsion; provided, however,
7-7 that in a county with a population greater than 125,000 every
7-8 expelled student who is not detained or receiving treatment under
7-9 an order of the juvenile court must be enrolled in an educational
7-10 program.
7-11 SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 1999-2000
7-12 school year.
7-13 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
7-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-19 passage, and it is so enacted.